An Admiral's Journey - Issei Hyoudou and the Main 4 ship girls
by Redstar Henry
Summary: (Story Challenge fic, AU) During his time in Yokohama, Issei's life changed when 4 unique girls transferred to his high school after a visit to a WWII ship exhibition. Fast forward to now, Issei Hyoudou need to find out his own history with the help of those very 4 girls he reunited and discover his and their true identity against increasingly new threats. (Idea at the bottom.)


Greetings readers:

I had this idea since I stumble across Kantai collection anime just a few weeks ago. While I am not a very big fan the idea of an anthropomorphic personifications of a vessel is quite interesting.

This fanfic is both a story and a idea suggestion. The story focuses on the Prologue of the story while the idea details will be provided below. If anyone want to write this one ( I seriously encourage you all to do so), then please PM me.

* * *

 **Prologue 1:**

* * *

 **Playground, Kuoh Academy, 2018.**

Ordinary was what could describe the atmosphere of the playground. It was recess time and for those Kuoh students craving for rest and outdoor activities, this secession was the opportunity for them to blow of some steam. The boys were playing ball games or various light sport activities, meanwhile the girls engaged in conversations, either gossips of the latest rumour or about their ideal romantic partner. For the latter, the highest chance on their list was Yuuto Kiba, the school prince of Kuoh Academy.

It was quite lively.

But among the lively atmosphere, one person stood out among his peers due to not participating in the ongoing activities on the playground. His expression was blank while emitting a "cool guy" aura that indirectly kept people away from him. He was sitting on a bench shaded by a huge nearby tree, and there was no one else sitting beside him. He had brown spiky hair that was not too "punk" – like look, an average but fit figure and dressed in a very neat uniform opposed to some others that purposefully unbuttoned white shirt exposing their T-shirts.

This male's expression and appearance might seemed to be normal, but for the students among Kuoh, the person was akin to a military person based on his habits and antics. The soldier-like male always came to school at a specific time, always spoke in a very professional and respectful tone; discipline was the pillar of his life - zero breaking of school rules, zero late assignments with virtually perfect grades on the paper, clear distance from "unhealthy" social norms such as pornography or violence. In addition, some delinquents in the academy experienced first-hand of this person's affinity with martial arts. But the intimidating reputation, fostered from his martial art abilities and his lack of interest in ordinary social activities made him isolated from others, branding him as a "loner".

This loner, was Second Year Kuoh Academy student Hyoudou Issei.

Or, from what his former friends Matsuda and Motohama and all those who had known Issei before, this Hyoudou Issei was "The Shadow of the "Real" Hyoudou Issei."

Why? Because when he first arrived at the Academy back in his first year, he exhibited none of his present behaviour. Long ago, Hyoudou Issei wasn't even among the median in terms of his grades, he wasn't motivated at all. While he was somewhat anti-social before, he was very depressed initially. But for Matsuda and Motohama, they knew one secret of Issei – he was a closet pervert. Since Motohama and Matsuda were disciples of perversity and childhood friends of Issei, most would assume that Issei would fell into perversity.

And he did.

But after 2 months since entering Kuoh Academy, Issei suddenly went a shift in his personality that completely caught others off guard and shaped him into the person he is today. However, in doing so Issei was even more isolated than before because Matsuda and Motohama determined that Iseei was no longer part of the "Pervert Trio". It was disbanded and so far not one single person in the academy would want to initiate a conversation with Issei. Even those girls that were peeped by Hyoudou Issei (Katase and Murayama) hadn't forgive his antics despite the fact that he refrained from peeking anymore.

Now, Hyoudou Issei hardly cared about what people thought of him. His "transformation" did not occurred randomly, it was the accumulation of several factors that led him to today. Besides, to him people had always find ways to justify in isolating him, making him had no interest in interacting with anybody because experience pretty much told him that all people are the same regardless of their names and appearance – he would always be a reject among them.

At present, he was reading a very thick book. Despite the long title, most of the students instantly recognized the cover of the book spoke of the content of it which was military themes, more specifically about naval warfare tactics in the past. In addition to his martial behaviour, Hyoudou Issei had a substantial interest in military books: history books, weapon biographies, military tactic guides, you name it. Should anyone engage in a military discussion with Hyoudou Issei, it would basically be a lecture from him. This profound interest in naval military also further isolated him from others, with most people calling him a warmonger.

Issei was just finishing a chapter when the bell rung and signalled the end of recess.

"Time to go back to class."'

* * *

 **Ten Hours Later**

 **Issei Hyoudou's room, Issei's residence**

The last ten hours were uneventful for Issei. Again, he didn't really care about the ten hours, for he was basically being left alone by his classmates and even his parents.

His parents. Oh how he loved them, but it seemed that they would never even look at him in the eye. Not since "that day" a year ago.

Before that day, Issei's parents were quite frankly what you could be asking for. Caring, devoted to their son and hard-working, Issei's parents were determined to refine their son into a fine man. But since that day, all Issei got from them was the cold and unforgiving silent treatment. In their eyes since that day, Issei was a failure and a disappointment, a disgrace to their legacy and their family, and "condemned" to be useless forever.

The silent treatment from his parents was the final straw and broke his mind. Afterwards, he re-forged his mind and then learnt to rely on himself. The process however transformed him into the military-like person that defined him today.

His parents were not abusive. They still fed him and allowed him allowances but that was it. If Issei wanted support he would have to rely on himself, not that it matters anymore since that day.

Right now, he just finished his homework which he was sure it would be passed with flying colours as usual. He sat on his bed and looked out towards the moon. It was a full moon, and full moon should symbolize union of families and friends, a time of happiness. However, the full moon instead stirred up sad memories of his life.

"I missed them."

* * *

 **2 years ago, January, 2016**

 **Issei Hyoudou**

 **Yokohama Harbour, Yokohama City, Japan.**

Life at Yokohama City was very ordinary for the brown-haired boy. Going to school, completing homework and one of his most favourite routine of all – to look at the sea from the harbour.

As a child, Hyoudou Issei had a huge fascination with the ocean, which prompted his parents to move to Yokohama 6 years ago besides his father taking a much better job than his previous one at their hometown of Kuoh. Issei would spent his days looking out the harbour, looking at the ships sailing. His passion for the ocean was unexplained, yet his dreams were filled with vision of sailing the seas on board his very own vessel.

Right now, Issei was sitting on a bench that was placed in a boardwalk at the coastline. He was looking out to the sea to clear his mind, while he was waiting for someone. But now, he thought back about his junior high school life.

His high school life was typical and normal as he could wish for. Decent friends and decent grades. Nothing out of ordinary

Until a faithful day….

* * *

 **Class 2 – B Classroom, Issei's Junior Highschool,**

 **Time: Homeroom Period, May, 2014**

Issei was just preparing for his lesson for the day like preparing his stationaries and textbooks before the Homeroom starts. He was just finished when his teacher arrived and exchanged greetings.

"Good Morning, class." Said the teacher before the class replied respectfully.

"Today, we have four new students joining us. They would be here soon and I would like everyone to give them a warm welcome before they would introduce themselves."

The announcement caused to class to erupt into discussions.

"Wow new students? Can't wait for it."

"I hope that they are all girls." Said one male "Ohh how I would love to date them!" That comment earned a few shakes of heads from the classmates.

"Or they could be handsome princes!" exclaimed one female.

Not really buying into rumours, Issei remained silent and decided to study until the teacher hit the desk with the attendance book.(1)

"Alright class, enough with the gossip! You may enter." The teacher said to the door.

The door opened and the classmates were excited…

There were four persons and they were all females, dressed in neat uniforms. Each with their own beauty and aura, which some boys showed "questionable gazes" while some girls had admiration shining in their eyes.

The first one was the tallest of the group. She had long brown hair, and some were tied up into a side ponytail on her left. She had a buxom figure for her age, yet her face was imprinted with a serious cool lady expression with virtually no smile at all. She first wrote her name on the blackboard before she introduced herself verbally.

"My name is Kaga Takara. I will be joining your class and I am pleased to be your acquaintances. My hobbies include archery, studying and eating good food. Nice to meet you and please take care of me." Said Kaga in a collected and calm tone before she bowed.

"Wow, she is a cool lady!"

"Too bad she is too cool, I don't think that I could date her."

"Oh, can she be the new onee-sama of our school?"

The gossips were interrupted by the sound of the attendance book banging, giving the chance for the second girl to introduce herself.

Unlike others, the second girl had long blonde hair, giving her a distinctive European look. Like Kaga, she also possessed a well-developed figure and she was the second tallest girl among the group. Unlike the constant serious expression of Kaga, this girl's face had a huge friendly smile and her aura was very approachable. Following Kaga's steps, the girl wrote her name on the blackboard. Afterwards, she faced her class and waved her hand with a smile before she introduced herself in fluent Japanese despite her foreigner look.

"Greetings, I am Atago Kishinami. Nice to meet you all! My hobbies include culinary practice, doing exercise and practicing sewing. I love to cook curry, not pre-packaged ones. I know that some boys are looking at me with a "questionable" gaze but I presently had no interest in dating so sorry! I look forward to study with you all besides dating!"

The announcement regarding her lack of interest in dating sparked a huge reaction among boys.

'NOOOOOOOOOO!"

"NOT FAIR!"

"SILENCE!" shouted the teacher. Despite this Atago was smiling, clearly amused from the reaction of the boys. Kaga looked at Atago with an exasperated expression before she regained her composure.

The third girl looked at Atago for a while before she turned to her class. She was the second shortest girl, with brown hair tied to two braided buns on her side. Compare to the two girls, she had a rather average body figure. Like Atago, she had a cherry expression though she seemed to be far bubblier than Atago. If Atago was the embodiment of a mature yet cheerful elder sister, than this girl would be the carefree younger sister. She had a distinctive Japanese facial appearance. Same with Kaga and Atago, she wrote her name on the blackboard and faced her class after that.

'HI!" said the girl in English which shocked the whole class "I am Kongou Ikari! I may look like Japanese but I was born in England and raised in Japan so don't be surprised that I could speak fluent English! Hmm for my hobbies (announcing hobby in English), I love cooking, brewing and drinking English black tea as well as sewing. I love to cook spicy curry soup (in English). I love teatime as well. He He, I also need to tell you boys that you are all not my type!"

Same with Atago's announcement, the boys shouted in disappointment.

"AND….." shouted Kongou "My most favourite words, which is also my catchphrase (in English) is…." when she said that, Kaga shook her head, Atago smiled helplessly and the fourth girl was a bit uneasy with traces of exasperation.

"BURNING LOVE!" while doing a rather immature pose.

The entire class sweat dropped at the antics of Kongou (besides Issei).

"Kongou-san! Not in the class!" said the fourth girl timidly.

"Hey, relax Bucky! This is our first day after all!" said Kongou cheerfully.

"Why don't you stop your declaration of burning love so that the last one could introduce herself, Kongou-san?" Said Atago. Kongou got the message and backed down.

The last girl was the shortest and the most average one. She had brown hair with a pony tail, but she had two threads of brown hair handing from the side of her face. Her expression was mostly neutral but often displayed some of her uneasy and nervous expressions, possibly from Kongou's antics. She introduced herself after she had written her name on the blackboard.

"Greetings, my name is Fubuki Sato." the now revealed Fubuki said in a very nervous tone "Bucky is not my real name, it is just a nickname came from Kongou-san. I don't have much hobbies besides swimming and running. Please take care of me!" before Fubuki finished her introduction with a nervous bow.

All the while, Issei was actually ignoring the introductions since he was so busy thinking about something. That something was actually the non-stop dreams that entered his sleep.

And they started after Issei visited at an exhibition at the NYK Maritime Museum. An exhibition displaying four ship models of Second World War Japanese warships. The warships were…

Aircraft Carrier Kaga.

Heavy Cruiser Atago

Fast Battleship/Former Battlecruiser Kongou (Or Kongo in official records)

Special Type Destroyer Fubuki

After that exhibition, Issei continued to have dreams dream about the vessels from the museum manifesting some sort of anthropomorphic personifications of the vessel in the form of females. One was a side pony tail brown haired archer, one was a blonde blue uniform woman, one was a long brown haired non-traditional shrine maiden and the last one was a short brown haired sailor fuku student. And that later onwards, the dream depicted him and these girls fighting some sort of mysterious enemies. But often his dreams were interrupted before he could know more about the girls.

Just then, he shifted his gaze to the girls and suddenly, it seemed that time stopped for Issei and the four girls.

Issei was bemused, why did these new students had similar facial appearance of the girls that he saw in his dreams minus their clothing? Another thing was that when he looked at them, he seemed to be at peace?

Instantly, when the girls looked at Issei their expressions changed. Fubuki instantly lost all her nervousness and smiled warmly at Issei. While losing some of her immatureness, Kongou wore a delighted expression when she gazed at Issei. Atago flashed a much different smile than her usual friendly one, it contained fondness and some sort of recognition.

But the most surprising reaction was from Kaga. Originally she had a serious and emotionless mask on her face. Upon looking at Issei, her face was instantly brightened by her warm smile.

Issei could only look at the girls with a confused yet nonetheless peaceful expression, like he had lost something but gained back in return.

* * *

 **Issei Hyoudou**

 **January, 2016**

 **Yokohama Harbour, Yokohama City, Japan.**

While Issei was sitting on the bench waiting for Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki, his mind wandered at their time after the homeroom

In just a few weeks, Issei, Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki became good friends. Actually that was an understatement, they were inseparable. They were always studying, engaging in activities like physical education and eating lunch together. In fact, when Kaga offered to teach Issei archery and practice together, Issei mastered the skill overnight and both even managed to synchronize their delivery of arrows, allowing them to won a national archery championship.

Kaga acted as the leader of the girls. Her calm and collected personality was accompanied by a mature "onne-san/ big sister" side. She often gave advice to Issei and the girls regarding everyday interactions with people and dealing with adversities. She was also the most studious person in the group and assisted Issei and the girls in acquiring high marks, which also cemented the gang into a study group. She often practiced archery after school, and since Issei and she had won the national championship they often practiced together, though Kongou often accused Kaga of using the archery club to separate between her and Issei, something that annoyed Kaga. One of the most significant characteristics of Kaga was her substantial appetite, she could demolish a lunch in less than ten minutes and that lunch was big in proportion. She acted cool and calm with others but she would always smile warmly when with Issei or with Atago, Kongou and Fubuki, which some girls teased her about it.

For Kongou, she seemed to be a weird one. She was the "Self-Proclaimed Wife of Issei Hyoudou" (2), much to the chagrin and amusement of Kaga, Atago and Fubuki. The former was because Kongou often let this title got the better of her and attracted unnecessary attention, such as shouting her title of "Wife of Issei" in public or loudly expressing her own displease in Issei when he interacted with other females (as well as accusing him of cheating on her). The latter was because of three reactions from the gang in response to Kongou's behaviour. Kaga would just execute a hand blade attack on Kongoug's head which always cause Kongou to react in an anime manner (crying rivers of tears while shouting "ITTEH!" in a very girlish tone) and amused the others (even Kaga was amused from it). Fubuki would scold Kongou regarding her behaviour and the two girls would engage in a sister quarrel, and Issei would often have to interrupt them. The last reaction was from Issei, whom he would pet Kongou's head (delighting her at first) before he announced that the marriage was "a provisional one" which meant that technically they weren't married (this caused her to cry in anguish).

Her "self-proclaimed wife" tendencies aside, Kongou was nonetheless a very approachable and cheerful person. Issei even admitted that Kongou often managed to brighten his day with her presence alone, though confessing that would always cause Kongou to enter her "Self-Proclaimed Wife of Issei Hyoudou" mode. Kongou acted as the elder sister of Fubuki, and both admitted that they considered each other as sisters. When Fubuki had some troubles at school, like one time with a delinquent harassing her, Kongou was often be the first one to jump in and assist or protect Fubuki. For the delinquent, well he got a huge beating from Kongou, which indirectly told others that despite Kongou's immature behaviour she was not to be messed with. Kongou, as said before was skilled in cooking, particularly her golden curry soup and other dishes of mixed Japanese-European cuisine. She often cooked for the group, with her best food went to both Issei and Kaga, the latter was necessary because it actually took both her and Atago's lunch to satisfy Kaga's appetite. Kongou also insisted tea time with the group afterschool, which she would provide scones or British biscuits with her very own black tea before they would engage in club activities3. Everyone in the group unanimously agree that no one could brew black tea as good as Kongou.

Atago was the caring big sister figure of the gang, opposed to Kaga's leading elder sister role in the team. She had huge interesting in sewing and joined the Sewing club of the school. Atago often took care of Issei when he was sick (he was a bit weak) and she and Kongou took turns in cooking for the team. However, both of them need to prepare two lunches for Kaga because of her appetite. Atago could make high-standard Japanese meal and not just curry but it was her favourite dish. Atago often would ask Issei of his troubles in life before she would offer her assistance to him, opposed to Kaga who would just provide advice to him. She was also the most experienced in terms of "girl emotion and body languages". Atago was once complimented by Issei that she should join a modelling agency because of her beauty and that with Atago blushing like the sun was one of her most embarrassing but pleasant moments with Issei.

Acting as a little sister of Issei, Fubuki was often protected by Issei from boys with "questionable intents", though she seemed to be able to defend herself with some martial skills when her nervousness did not get the better of her. Fubuki was often seen running and swimming because these two exercise were the only ones that Fubuki was skilled with, and she often relied on these exercises to strengthen her physical condition. Issei was originally not a swimmer, but he learnt from Fubuki and while Issei would spent time with Kaga practicing archery, he would also spent time with Fubuki in swimming as well. Fubuki's meek personality shaded her determined personality, when she set a target she would pursue with utmost resolve. Perhaps among the four girls, she was the one that was most determined, as she originally had below average marks but after determined to be among the top ten in terms of academic performance she accomplished it with her constant study. Issei admitted that Fubuki's determined attitude also inspired him to be among the top ten, which now Issei and the four girls were all in the top ten.

Iseei actually could not fathom how his life would be had these four girls did not enter his life…..

"BURNING LOVE!"

That was all Issei could register before he was enveloped in a hug which he knew was from Kongou.

"Chu, chu! Chu, chu! Issei-kun!" (4) said Kongou.

Issei sighed before he dislodged from himself from Kongou's embrace, much to her dismay.

"Kongou-chan, please not in public." He said. He knew that deep down he liked Kongou display of affection but he was a bit embarrassed with how public that Kongou would announce her affection with Issei.

"Muu!" pouted Kongou which Issei admitted that her pout was rather cute "Issei-kun, embracing you is a part of the duty as your wife!"

Sigh, again with the "Self-Proclaimed Wife of Issei Hyoudou" mode. Issei just patted her head in response to calm her down. She did toned her attitude down.

But….

"Remember Kongou, provisional."

That immediate sent Kongou into a fit of tears. Her actions just prompted Issei to shake his head.

"Kongou-san! Please show some manners in public!"

That was definitely Fubuki.

"Bucky!" which caused Fubuki to sign in exasperation "No need to worry about my behaviour with Issei! No problem (in English)!"

"Just don't say "maybe" secretly." (5) Replied Fubuki. Kongou just rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

Issei chose to turn their conversation to somewhere else instead of Kongou's behaviour.

"Where's Kaga-san and Atago-san?"

It didn't take long for his reply….

"We are here, Issei-kun." said Kaga.

Issei turned around and he saw Kaga and Atago wore their school's uniform. Both of the girls had a warm smile on their faces while they approached him, Kongou and Fubuki.

They sat at the bench and looked at the sea with the sunset for a few moments, before Issei interrupted the peace.

"So guys, it is the end of our Junior High school years. What are your plans?" Issei asked uneasily.

The girls were also uneasy, even Kongou lost her usual cheerful smile and Atago's face did not have a single trace of smile on it. The high school system of Japan separated high school into Junior and Senior high school and it was not a direct promotion into senior year either, the students need to enrol in a different high school and that was dependant on their results. While they all had the best top ten results in their school, they were uncertain if they could be allocated to the same school because results are not everything.

The uneasy silence continued for a while before Kaga, being the most composed and collected one decided to reveal her destination.

'Well, I got admittance into Yokohama High School." Said Kaga in a calm tone but the others knew that she was very uncertain underneath.

But her announcement instead stirred up good news.

"We are going to the same school!" said Issei, Fubuki, Atago and Kongou. They initially meant that they individually would be going to the same school as Kaga. Upon everyone announced that, the four minus Kaga looked at each other before they shouted happily….

'WE ARE ALL GOING TO THE SAME SCHOOL!"

At first, Kaga was astonished before she again gave out her warm smile, a smile reserved for Issei and the gang.

And, to further surprise the group, Kaga enveloped the others into a hug. They responded wholeheartedly.

"How about we take a group photo of us my good friends?" suggested Issei.

Kongou nodded enthusiastically while the others gave a small nod.

After managing to ask a person to take a photo of them, they got into position and took it.

Every one of them kept their photo on their phones before they departed from the harbour, excited at the prospect of studying in the same high school together.

* * *

 **Present, 2018**

 **Issei Hyoudou's room, Issei's residence.**

"I miss them so much." Muttered Issei just as tears started to form in his eyes.

Not brothering with cleaning his eyes, Issei went to his desk and took a photo frame. The photo Issei took on that day of the boardwalk was preserved by the frame. He caressed the photo as it was the only memento of those four girls that he had spent his best time with.

On the photo, Issei sat at the centre of the bench. Kaga stood behind Issei while placing her right hand on his right shoulder. Atago sat at Issei's right side, both hands folded and rested on her lap. Kongou sat at Issei's left side while steadying Fubuki whom had sat on Kongou's lap.

All of them had a smile on their face.

And that was the last time that Issei had ever saw them.

Just when they're about to start a new year in Yokohama High School together, Issei's father had an announcement that was bad news for Issei.

His company needed to relocate to their hometown of Kuoh instantly and they all had to move back.

And just when he made that announcement, Issei's father declared that they would move two days from then. The moving preparations was already made by the company and they had to pack.

Issei was so shocked at the prospect of being separated from his friends in such short notice that he became depressed. Just when he could get on with his life with Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki, his father shattered that dream with his occupation. While he understood his father had adequate reasons for his occupation and that he was the pillar of the family, he couldn't believe that his father would announce it at the last moment.

He couldn't even say good bye to the girls because he had to pack as quickly as possible. Since then, despite the fact that Issei loved his parents, he couldn't help but be angry with Mr. Hyoudou's actions.

On the day that he moved, Issei tried to contact the girls with his phone.

But there was no response.

So the group photo taking at the boardwalk became Issei's last time and memory with the girls.

His depression plagued him as he arrived at Kuoh. Due to time constraints, Issei was forced to search for a school as soon as possible. However, because it was February at that time and most schools had full admissions already, the Kuoh Academy became his only choice. As a consequence of his depression, he barely passed the entrance test, opposed to his high academic standing during his time in Yokohama.

Upon entering the Academy, he was reunited with his two childhood friends – Matsuda and Motohama. Originally that managed to lift his spirits up in a marginal proportion, until he discovered that they were perverts that literally went overboard. Although Issei did had some "questionable desires" for the four girls, he was not as perverse as Matsuda and Motohama. However, since their friendship was the only thing that could keep Issei sane, he descended into perverseness in order to maintain friends.

That was a costly mistake. His perverse nature caused him to be "an enemy of everyone in Kuoh Academy". People rejected him and they spread horrible humours of him even among the town, and that caused him to experience "that day" – the day that Issei official fall out from his parents and the latter disowning the former.

In short, life had went downhill completely for Issei after the day at the boardwalk.

He was….

Broken.

After all the intense adversities, Issei snapped and became the one he is today.

Sleep slowly overwhelm him, and Issei went to his bed while hugging the photo frame as if his life depended on this meaningful memento.

Despite vowing that he would never cry in front of others, after revisiting his memories of his post-Yokohama life it was too much for Issei. Streams of tears flowed endless from his eyes as he slowly entered the realm of Morpheus.

His last words before his fall to Morpheus's realm was…

"Kaga, Atago, Kongou, Fubuki, I miss you so much."

* * *

Outside the residence, almost at the same time as Issei cried himself to sleep, four girls shed their tears.

* * *

 **Four days later.**

Crying full heartedly at night, going on as usual at day was pretty much the motto of Issei in everyday life.

Despite the misgivings, Issei slowly returned his academic standing to Yokohama-era levels. Denouncing his friendship with Matsuda and Motohama and being a pervert was enough to cause a shock among the Kuoh Academy students but not enough to change the people's negative perspective on Issei.

Besides his former reputation as a pervert, another event contributed to the continuing negative views on him from the Kuoh Academy Students.

* * *

 **Three days ago**

 **Playground, Kyoh Aacdemy**

Issei was just studying again at his usual spot when he was approached by a person.

Well, not just any person but the idol of the Kuoh Academy.

That Person was a female with very long red hair, as red as blood. She was tall with a buxom figure, in fact should people compare her to a model they would not be able to differentiate between them. She walked with the grace a royal princess, articulated by her European-looks and her smile. Around her, all the males and females ceased what they were and gazed at Rias Gremory with a worshiping attitude

She was Rias Gremory, the number one one-sama of Kuoh Academy.

But to Issei, Rias Gremory seemed not to be as she looks.

Her smile to him was….

Fake.

He recalled his memories regarding this female. Rias Gremory never smiled at him, in fact one could argue that she hadn't interact with him at all since his admission to the Kuoh Academy. Due to his reputation of being a pervert combined with Rias Gremory blatant distain of perverts, Issei and Gremory couldn't even classify as acquaintances. In addition, Issei managed to hear from one of the classmates that due to Gremory's hatred of perverts, she was found to be discriminating against them including Issei. While Issei agreed that he deserved the hatred of females that he had peeked due to his pervert nature, he recalled that he had NEVER came across Gremory, neither did he peep on her. Therefore, while Issei did not pose a particular negative view of Rias Gremory, he preferred to keep a certain distance between them such as not interacting unless absolutely necessary.

Rias was also an enigma to him. Rumours had it that she was almost missing from class but her grades were impressive. It was said that she inhabited the Old School Building and seldom left from it. She ran the Occult Research Club and she had never extended any invitations to others, not even the most academically talented students in the academy. So any sort of invitation to their club would be regarded as the generosity of Rias Gremory and should be treasured. However, to Issei, should she extend any invitations it must have some of sort of motive. After all, she never really gave out any invitations to her club.

But the most important thing regarding her, was that Issei could look into the eyes of another person and could see their "aura" or their character for a while

Rias Gremoy's Aura was

Greedy

Selfish

And for some reason

Malevolent.

Issei steeled his nerves before he turned to Rias with a neutral expression.

"Hyoudou Issei , I presume?" Asked Rias Gremory with a smile.

"Affirmative." Replied Issei respectfully.

"I am Rias Gremory." Said Rias.

"I could see, Onee-sama of Kuoh Academy."

Gremory's smile instantly widened a bit.

"May I ask why you are here?"

Issei suspected that Rias was attempting to get him into the mood, but he would go along the flow for now.

"Studying."

"And are you affiliated with any clubs?"

"No."

Rias's smile instantly widen a bit more. But Issei stared into her eyes and saw her "Malevolent" aura increased substantially.

"Then allow me to offer you a place in my Occult Research Club, I would really like it if you join me." She declared before she extended her hand to him, intending him to shake it.

Her announcement instantly generated uproar at the situation. Rias Gremory just offered an invitation to Issei Hyoudou in joining the "forbidden" Occult Research Club.

"No way! I can't even approach Rias-san and ask for an invitation. What does Hyoudou have that I don't?!"

"Man, it is a nightmare! I tell you, a nightmare! Rias Gremory can't possibly talking to the pervert and soldier-wannabe!"

It seemed like an impossible yet perfect offer.

However, Issei frowned regarding the situation.

" _Rias Gremory had never attempted to converse with me, let alone inviting me to the club. Since I came here Rias Gremory never wanted me to join the club, why would she suddenly change her mind? No, it is not possible that she wants me to join just because of "club manners", during the club opening day her club wasn't even in the exhibition! She must have a reason why she so suddenly extend an offer to me, and I am pretty sure that such reason is ulterior. I would have to observe her to see if she had some questionable motives regarding me, I don't believe that some stranger would suddenly offer you a gift, they must expect something return."_

Moments passed, and Issei still did not reply to her. While the others continued their shouts of disappointment and outrage, Rias Gremory had some very subtle reactions regarding Issei's delay in reply. While her face maintained her signature "hime-style" smile, her eyes started to give out hits of frustration and impatience as well as withdrawing her hand.

However, the body language from her eyes would be her downfall.

Her pupils glowed red as a result of her frustration and impatience, which went unnoticed by the others but not Issei.

And that instantly gave Issei a hint of how should he answer.

"I am sorry, I refuse."

That was a bombshell for the whole Academy.

The entire surrounding student population shouted cries of outrage at Issei for "disrespecting and disgracing" Rias Gremory. Death threats were shouted out from the girls that hated Issei with passion while boys made cut throat gestures to Issei.

While maintaining composure, one of the eyebrows of Rias Gremory twitched. She was less than pleased and a bit surprised with Issei's reply but she had to maintain composure for the sake of her appearance and reputation.

"May I ask why, Hyoudou Issei? Not everyone could receive an invitation to my club, let along directly from me Hyoudou-kun." Answered Rias with a smile on her face that many others deemed it normal but Issei could clearly see that the smile was becoming even more fake due to her hidden disdain of him started to manifest. When she said "Hyoudou-kun" her tone gave away to some of the distain that she had for Issei rejecting the offer.

None of that went unnoticed with Issei. Alerted by the body language that Rias gave out, his intellect started to take over his uneasy mind and formulated countermeasures against Rias's inquiry.

"If my memory serves me right, that you Rias Gremory had not bother to strike a conversation with me since I entered the academy. And, provided that the information is correct, you seemed to have a huge dislike of persons with questionable desires such as myself and you even discriminated me for being a pervert as you said that you hate perverts. Since we had never interact with each other, I found it extremely strange that you would suddenly extend an invitation to me to join your club, given that you did not extend an invitation to me or interact with me as well as not giving invitation to others that are more capable than me in joining your club. I can't help but be suspicious of your intentions in allowing me to join." Said Issei cautiously with a slight frown, a desire to immediately terminate the conversation was kept back because he wanted to handle the situation without any escalation or any sort of potential conflict.

The entire student population minus Rias Gremory jaw dropped. Issei's words instantly rang some bells and he was correct. They recalled that even the most academically successful students were not invited to the club and that the very mysterious nature of the Occult Research Club sparked concerns just what the club was for.

If anything, Rias Gremory's princess smile grew by an itch. It may not look like it, but Issei's answer to her was in fact what she wants, she wanted to lure Issei into the club so that he could assist her.

"You are correct Hyoudou-kun, I do not extend my invitation lightly, but I saw that you have potential in assisting me regarding club manners and activities due to your professional behaviour in school. I believe that it would be beneficial for you as well in joining us." She said in a very business-like tone.

"Elaborate."

"It could provide you a chance to meet new friends, it could prove a good addition to your résumé since you had not join any clubs and it would be a good place for you to develop your talents." Replied the red-haired girl.

That was not convincing to Issei.

"I could say that the benefits of joining your club is very minimal. A, I already had some very good friends and you don't need a lot of friends but a few good ones are enough, and I already have those kind of friends (he meant Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki of course but he will not reveal their identity to Gremory since he do not trust her). B, I have some good achievements on my résumé already and joining your club could hardly enhance it since the society tend to be skeptical on supernatural. C, occult field is hardly a place for me to develop my talents, and I would like to inquire what sort of talents I have that are actually occult-related? Another for C is that there are far more members that have knowledge of occult manners such Shiro Yamada who is not only a model student but also possessed huge knowledge regarding occult things, why don't you recruit him? If you want recruit to me, then I highly doubt that you want me to join because of occult research." listed Issei.

The response caused Rias to be flabbergasted, she had not counted the possibility of Issei questioning HOW he could be of any sort of assistance in occult manners as well. She tried another approach.

"Well, I believe that besides contributing to the club you could learn something from it by joining it."

"I am not interested in supernatural since I was young, why should I join your club when I don't have an interest in supernatural? If so, I could have join the archery club instead since I have interest in it."

Rias was a bit displeased at Issei's answer.

"It could improve your résumé as you will have all-around activities which is preferred." She altered her answer.

Again, that was not convincing to Issei.

"I could just join the archery club and the military club as well as swimming team. Your club is not the only egg in the basket."

The red-haired princess was clearly annoyed at Issei's continuing avoidance in joining her club. Her annoyance was starting to tamper with her control, which bound to cause her to make a mistake.

"I hardly think that an amateur swimmier that learn a few tricks from his short time in Yokohama city could be of any help to the award-winning swimming team of our academy."

However, when Rias mentioned Yokohama city, Issei's suspicion was confirmed.

"Pardon me Gremory-san, I recalled that I had never mention to anyone that I had spent my junior high school years in Yokohama city not even Matsuda and Motohama and this information was supposed to be only accessible by the dean, the student council and the teaching staff of the school, may I ask how did you inquire this information?"

Like a slap had been delivered to her face, Rias instantly realized her mistake. She unintentionally revealed that she had some personal information of Issei at hand that was not supposed to be accessible to her. Luckily for her, her mind instantly came up with an intelligent solution.

"I thought that when you participated the national archery championship that you had won your affiliation with your school was announced. So I know that you came from Yokohama."

Once again, the student population erupted into gossips.

"THE PEVERT WAS A NATIONAL ARCHERY CHAMPION?!"

While the student population was expressing disbelief that Issei Hyoudou could be a national archery champion, Rias smiled at the thought that she had salvaged the situation.

Actually, she didn't.

"Then how did you know that I learnt swimming during my time in Yokohama, I could have learnt swimming before I even began my high school years so how did you know?" asked Issei intently.

That was the answer that Rias could not give. She had been exposed.

Her silence gave the answer that Issei needed to know. However, Rias Gremory started to become desperate.

"Please, consider my offer!" said Rias Gremory pleadingly.

"Why? Why do you insist me in joining your club?" asked Issei skeptically.

"Because I need your help!" replied Rias Gremory.

"Help for what?" and Issei frowned even more when he replied

"I can't tell you until you join the club! Its club secret!" said Rias.

"What so secret that you can't tell?" Issei pondered even more.

"I just can't!" she said.

"Then it is settled, you just revealed that you have some ulterior motive in enlisting me because if not, then you could instantly tell me why you insist me in joining your club and the reason why you need my help!"

All this while, Rias Gremory did not know that Issei was purposefully prolonging the conversation and not giving what she wants in order to cause her to lose her patience. Because everyone has a limit no matter how much he or she had control over her emotions impatience would be his or her downfall. By slowly making her lose her patience, Rias Gremory could easily commit some mistakes that gave away the fact that she had inappropriate access to Issei's personal information even if they had not interacted before, and gave Issei more than enough reason to refuse Rias Gremory's "invitation".

And her body language was a dead giveaway. Especially the unexplained red glow of her pupils.

Having enough of this conversation, Issei determined to end it. He turned around and headed back towards his classroom.

"I am sorry Rias Gremory, I do not want to join your club, nor do I want to converse with you anymore unless you cease your inappropriate access to my personal information."

Just after saying that, he turned his head back and glared at Rias Gremory.

"AND, since you indirectly revealed that you infringe on my privacy, I would also like to ask you this question. Is Koneko Toujou your friend and also a member of the Occult Research Club?"

Rias nodded.

"Then why she is following me? I also recalled that your group of associates, Koneko Toujou, Akeno Himejima and Yutto Kiba did not even interact with me as well. Unless Toujou-san and I interacted before, she would not had follow me after school unless you had ordered her to do so!"

"What makes you think I will order her to follow you anyway?" asked Rias Gremory angrily.

"You could order a person to do it due to your title as buchou. It seems that you are a stalker as well" Issei tested her.

"I AM NOT A STALKER!" Rias admitted it too quickly.

Same as before, her body language just gave the answer that Issei needed.

Issei shook his head and then left the playground, not bothering to talk to her.

What he didn't know was that he really crossed Rias Gremory and she cursed.

"Once I make you into my servant, I will be sure to punish you for publicly humiliating me!"

Present time

Since the encounter with Rias Gremory, Issei became extremely wary of the red-haired girl. Rias Gremory's cursing was heard by him and her true identity further worried him.

Yes, Issei Hyoudou knew that Rias Gremory was a Devil.

He got that knowledge from Sona Sitri or Souna Shitori as known to the public.

After the encounter with Rias Gremory, Sona approached him with an offer to join her student council. Again, he refused though he was more polite than during his time with Gremory. One different thing that Sona did compare to Rias Gremory was that she revealed her reasons for asking him to join her and her true identity, because she knew that Issei would not trust anyone easily and the encounter with Gremory heightened his alertness. Sona decided that since Rias Gremory essentially "screwed up", she tried to salvage the situation by being honest with him.

Luckily for Sona, being honest proved to be a successful tactic as Issei instantly said that he would not hold any animosity towards her and her group but he warned that due to Rias his opinion of Devils was quite negative. Sona, being calm and collected as always made a deal with him: if Issei could keep her identity a secret from others, she would try whatever she can to ensure that Issei's humanity would be protected, for she also admired the reasons why Issei wanted to be human despite the clear benefits of being a Devil such as wealth, power and near-immorality. Isse accepted the deal, a sign of his respect towards Sona.

Before leaving the student council room however, Sona gave him a warning.

" _Be careful with Rias Gremory Hyoudou – kun. She has good reasons why she is desperate and want you in her peerage, I do not support her behaviour but I can see why she acts that way. I can't tell you why yet as it is a very private matter with Gremory-san. But, she will not stop until she get what she wants and that is to make you her servant, so be careful."_

That warning was all he needed to keep his distance away from Rias Gremory.

Since that day, most students accused Issei of disrespecting Rias Gremory the number one onne-sama of the school. But Issei, already accustomed to the negative views of the students had on him hardly bothered to care about this.

However, the pass days were indeed stressful so he considered taking a walk on the bridge that was on his way home.

It was sunset as well, and from his view point it looked exactly like that day on the boardwalk. But like he had vowed before, he would not cry in public.

Besides, the warm rays of the sun gave him some warmth that he desperately needed.

But then something caught his attention.

No, someone.

Down below the street, a girl was wearing s while sailor fuku with long brown hair tied up in a pony-tail. The mysterious person then turned around and faced him, the girl's face was framed by two brown hair threads and her face was very familiar. The girl smiled at him before she took off.

Issei knew that he could not catch up, but upon seeing her he was frozen by a prospect regarding that girl.

"Is that…..Fubuki?"

Telling himself that it was preposterous that Fubuki would be here, he moved from his position and then started to head to the direction of his residence. But as he shifted his vision, another person caught his attention.

It was a tall girl with a buxom figure standing near the bridge, wearing a white gi covered by a blue hakama while a black muneate protects her chest area. The most signature thing about her however, was her left side pony-tail. She also smiled at Issei before she ran off.

"Kaga-san?" Issei called out.

But she was gone.

* * *

"Are the matters concerning the Student Council President of Kuoh Academy done yet?"

"All done!"

"Excellent, now let's reunite with our Admiral! He needs us more than ever!"

"I managed to get some intelligence regarding that red-haired girl, she is planning to corner our Admiral to force him into servitude! Everyone, we need to accelerate our plans!"

* * *

 **6 days later, old school building front door, Kuoh Academy.**

If Issei needed to be honest, he would rather be somewhere else than here.

But Rias Gremory had indeed cornered him but not the way that he expected.

It was clear that Rias Gremory was furious over Issei's refusal to join her club but Issei had no clear grasp just how much influence Rias had over the academy. Rias used her influence to spread rumors via the campus newspaper courtesy of the newspaper club, rumors of him raping serval girls back in his junior high school years that came with images of the four girls. Issei had no idea how Rias Gremory managed to acquire the images of Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki but he knew that he would be in serious trouble with the authorities if he do not deal with it.

Unfortunately, contacting the newspaper club and asking them to retract the newspaper proved to be fruitless. The newspaper club members firmly believed in the rumors regarding him since it came from the "Great Onne-sama of Kuoh Academy". Adding to his misery, the student council could not be reached during this time so they could not assist him in this crisis.

Upon returning to his desk, he found a letter addressed to him and when he opened it he instantly realized who it from was.

" _Come to the ORC clubroom and we will discuss some unfinished business. Should you refuse to comply we will contact the police regarding your scandal. Choose wisely."_

" _Sincerely from Rias Gremory."_

Running out of options, Issei decided to confront Rias Gremory though Sona's warning still caused him to be uneasy.

' _Hmm, I don't trust that Gremory girl, neither do I trust her associates since they are too close with her. I could have just ignore them anyway since the photos are definitely fake and if I could prove that they are fake my troubles would be gone. However, the problem is that I could not prove that the photos were fake because the photos seem so real and that Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki were not here they can't testify against the photos should I indeed run into trouble in the law. Again, I could have just asked the student council to assist me in this manner but they were not reachable this time. Running into the trouble into the law is the last thing I want to do and since I do not have enough evidence to prove that the photos were false, I would have to deal with Gremory. I cannot believe that the red-haired girl would resort to blackmailing me just to get what she wants. Oh, if only Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki were here."_ Thought Issei.

Which brings us to now.

Issei knocked on the door of the building and out came a female. She had long purple hair that was kept in place by an orange ribbon while also tied up into single pony tail. She was dressed in the Kuoh Academy uniform which did nothing to hide her well-endowed figure. She had a smile on her face and emitted an aura of Yamato nadeshiko. In Issei's eyes however, that smile was also fake for from her eyes she exhibits the same malevolent aura that Rias Gremory carried. She was Akeno Himejima, the second "onne-sama of Kuoh Academy".

"Hyoudou Issei, I presume?" asked Akeno.

Issei nodded.

"Please follow me. Our Buchou is expecting you." Before she bowed.

However, when Issei entered the building he heard a voice that increased his caution tenfold.

The door locking by Akeno Himejima.

* * *

"Everyone, our Admiral is in trouble!"

"We have to get there now!"

* * *

 **ORC Clubroom:**

The atmosphere was extremely uncomfortable for Issei. Feeling like that he had been exposed by the intent gazes from the others in the clubroom it was hard not for him to feel uncomfortable.

The sound of showering water and the lack of Rias Gremory's presence in the room clearly indicated that she was taking a shower.

The others did not alleviate the situation either. Akeno was staring at Issei with her patented smile, but it was her sadistic smile so that didn't help. Yuuto Kiba was staring at him with dissatisfied expression combined with a deep frown, while Issei suspected that it was due to his blatant refusal to join the ORC and disrespecting Rias Gremory in front of the public he could not fathom. Koneko Toujou was busy eating snacks but her refusal to greet Issei (Akeno and Yuuto did but with less than polite tones) was a clear hint that she did not like him. Issei instantly remembered that Koneko had a far larger hatred of perverts than Rias Gremory so that her refusal to speak to him was quite understandable but not her cold attitude.

Finally, the club president finished her shower and came out. She dressed in a very presentable manner and again spoke volumes of her "hime" status, but her eyes again gave away her actual disdain of Issei Hyoudou. She proceeded to her president desk, Akeno flanking her on the right side while Koneko and Kiba took their place on the sofas in the room.

"Finally, I am glad that you see some reason Hyoudou Issei in accepting my offer. Now please enjoy a cup of tea personally brewed by my most trusted friend Akeno Himejima." Said Rias Gremory courteously."

"No thanks, I don't really drink European tea." Lied Issei, he was paranoid that he did not exclude the possibility that the tea might be spiked with some unknown substance.

"Really, if my sources are correct you seem to prefer black tea and this is black tea." Listed Rias Gremory with a smile.

"Yes but from what I could tell, it was not brewed to my liking. The scent was a bit off and I could tell that since I had drank a lot of black tea."

"Oh, then I am sorry that our tea is not fit for your tastes." Replied Akeno. Though Issei could clearly detect the lack of sorry in her tone.

"It's okay, I already drank some tea this morning so I don't want to have the same drink today." Replied Issei in attempt to prevent any escalation of unnecessary hard feelings. That was the last thing he need.

"Tea tastes aside, I believe that you have once again illegally accessed my information and you used the information in blackmailing me." Issei decided to get to the main point because he saw no point in prolonging conversation.

A cat-like smirk made its way onto Rias face, and Issei instantly realized that his idea of getting straight to the point was actually a mistake.

"Well since you are straight to the point I believe that it is better that we do so, yes?" Rias asked. "My offer for you to join the club still stands but now it has some additional benefits as well."

'You mean strings." deduced Issei.

"What a clever kouhai, such good addition he will be to us, ufufu." Commented Akeno with a dazed expression.

"Agreed." Commented Rias Gremory with a smile that seemed like a hunter that managed to corner its prey and the latter had no way to escape.

Just then, Issei heard the door locking and he saw that Kiba managed to lock it. _"Just how did he move so fast?"_ he pondered as he remembered that Kiba was sitting on the sofas instead of slowly moving to the door. With the windows closed and all doors locked, escape was impossible.

His only chance of salvation lied in a secret device resting in his trousers' pocket. So he discreetly put his hand into the pocket and activated it.

The only thing that he could do was to buy him time in order for his rescuers to show up.

"Now, Issei have you consider our offer? I am sure that you would see the benefits of joining us." commented Rias Gremory.

"There is no such thing as free lunch from what I can tell. You did not list the strings in the offer and you would only reveal it only when I accepted the offer."

"Well, since you had already exposed the strings, then allow me to tell you this."

Rias Gremory stood up and conjured a threatening posture.

"If you do not join my club, then the rumors regarding your rape of those four girls that you met during your time in Yokohama city would continue. We would lay this rumor to your parents to further worsen your relationship with your parents, I can only imagine how angry they would be if they found out that their useless son was really a rapist. Finally, we would also tell the authorities of your crime. Since those girls were not here to testify against the photos and the fact that the photos had been proved that there are not frauds, you will certainly be in deep trouble with the law." Stated Rias confidently as she was very certain that Issei would have no possible way to escape.

During the time that Rias was listing his troubles regarding the rumors, a combination of female voices manifested in the mind of Issei, as if the voices were talking to Issei directly through his mind.

" _Ad..r.l… ..l…!"_

" _You …stall….."_

" _We….to….you….!"_

Despite having absolutely no idea of the identity of those voices, Issei determined that the voices were extremely familiar to him and he instantly became receptive to their comments. However, the voices did not actually stabilize and it was pure confusion on his mind, thus Issei had no idea what to do now but he decided to stall as much time as possible as they had said.

"Then if I decided to join, what's in it for me?" Issei pondered, hoping that it could buy him more time.

This time, Rias Gremory was patient.

"Of course, should you decided to join, I will promise you that I will retract every rumor and destroy all traces of those images released to the newspaper club. I would also refrain from speaking to your parents and the authorities. I am sure that this would be a win-win situation for both of us, you for saving your already poor reputation in the academy and I could gain a very valuable member in our club. Isn't it?" asked Rias with a very eerie smile.

Just then, another wave of female voices entered Issei's mind

" _Every…. the ….! ...is…..….can't….in"_

"… _.the…unlocked! ...is….trouble!"_

"… _-san, get…unlock…!"_

" _Under…."_

Issei concluded that revealing another bombshell could further delay the time. The rescuers were near

"By "joining your club", you actually mean "joining your peerage" don't you?"

That instantly struck a nerve to Rias and her group for their most important secret was revealed.

Like lightning, everyone besides Rias Greomry took a battle stance. Akeno stretched her hand to the ceiling while opening her palm, seconds later yellow lightning manifested around the opened palm. Koneko assumed her stance with fists ready in a fighting position and Kiba drew out a sword. While not preparing herself for combat, Rias Gremoy crossed her hands and put them in from of her mouth while staring at Issei Hyoudou with a sinister glint (AKA Gendo Pose).

"Hyoudou-kun, may I ask what do you mean by peerage." Asked Rias with hostility in her tone.

" _Come….! ….. are…out….time!"_

" _Well, beating around the bush won't do me any good, I just hope those "rescuers" could be faster."_ pondered Issei

Steeling his courage, he turned to Rias with a neutral expression.

"I know your secret identity and your peerage, Rias Gremory. I know that you are a Devil and how your peerage works. I know that Akeno Himejima, Koneko Toujou and Yuuto Kiba are devils as well and are your servants. I know very well that by accepting your "offer" I will basically be forced to be reincarnated into a devil and be your servant. Even if I could made it to being a high-class devil like you and get a peerage of my own I simply refuse to sacrifice my humanity and my freedom to you as it is very clear that you do not deserve my loyalty. I don't want to work for you."

" _Come on!...!"_

"I am sorry Hyoudou-kun, you know too much and I can't let you leave this room with our secret. Our secret cannot be exposed no matter what, it is for the sake of the school. So here is my ultimatum: either you join us or we will use force as I deem you now as a threat not only to the ORC but also the Kuoh Academy. You have thirty seconds to comply." listed Rias Gremory coldly before she laid back into her chair. The others increased their hostile intent to accompany Rias's demand.

" _Almost…..!"_

The thirty second limit approached gradually, but it seem like eternity in the room. Rias Gremory was glaring at Hyoudou Issei with extreme hostility for her identity and right to remain at the human world was at stake, hoping that by showing that he had no route of escape it might force Issei to back down and accept the offer. Otherwise, her mind would tell her to order the execution of Hyoudou Issei since he was too much of a threat and to get back at him for publicly humiliating her. The other servants glared at Hyoudou Issei as well, as public humiliation of their master was beyond acceptable to them. Rias Gremory provided a family for them and they looked up to her so Hyoudou Issei had no right to insult their master and can get away from it.

Sweats dropped from Issei's forehead and his breath labored as he tried to stall as much time as possible yet he refrained from showing any fear. He knew that he was running out of time but he knew that he was close.

Suddenly, a huge cheer erupted into his mind.

" _YES! THE DOOR"S UNLOCKED! LET"S GO!"_

"Times up." declared Rias Gremory. "Your answer, Hyoudou."

Issei just shouted "I refuse!"

" _Admiral hold on! We are coming!"_

"Akeno, Yuuto, Koneko attack and made sure to humiliate him first before I will personally ensure that he would be our servant." ordered Rias before she turned her chair around with the back of the chair facing him.

Heeding their master's order, Akeno, Koneko and Kiba launched their attacks. Instantly, Kiba vanished into a blur and Issei simply could not see him. Before he could determine Kib'a position, a slash was delivered to his right leg causing him to scream in pain which delighted Akeno as she muttered "Ara Ara ufufu, this is fun, eliminating Buchou's enemies and punishing naughty future members particular the ones that disrespected her."

The Devils would not give any mercy to Issei. Right after Kiba's attack, Koneko corresponded with a powerful fist connecting to Issei's abdomen at the same time showing hatred on her face, amplifying the pain that Issei was feeling right now and further subduing him. He could barely stand and clutched his stomach at the sheer pain that was equivalent to a 2 ton hammer impacting on his skin.

" _Admiral hold on! We are almost at the clubroom! Just hang in there!"_

Akeno followed next, she applied a small amount of her lightning on her palms and shot them at Issei's left hand, finally causing him to fall onto the ground. Upon that, Rias instantly left her chair and pulled out several red western chess pawn pieces that Issei instantly recognize that they were Evil pieces that Sona warned. All the other faces had smiles of victory while Rias Gremory chuckled coldly at Issei.

"Foolish boy, had you just accepted my offer then you could be in less pain than before. Now, since you publicly disgraced me I would personally ensure that until you could prove yourself to be sorry I will humiliate you at every opportunity. Now, you must accept that you will be my servant and I had already many suitable punishments for you." finished Rias as she slowly moved her evil pieces to Issei, gleaming in victory.

" _Not just yet, devil"_ thought Issei for he knew that he had just bought enough time. He could hear the footsteps beyond doors, which meant his rescuers were here.

What he didn't expect however was a familiar cry.

"BURNING LOVE!"

" _Kongou-chan?"_

" **BOOM!"**

That was all he could register as an explosion shook the entire building and the doors to the club room were blown open, creating a huge cloud of smoke and dust around the room.

After coughing for a few times and waiting for the dust to disperse, he was greeted with a familiar sight.

Standing above the ruined door and with their combat posture ready were his long lost friends Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki clothed in female Kuoh Academy uniform.

Judging from their expressions, they were less than pleased with Rias Gremory's action as they gazed at her with disdain in their eyes.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" screamed Rias Gremory at the intruders. The evil pieces that she was holding were dispersed all over the room. Akeno, Koneko and Kiba were knocked out by the explosion as they laid on the ground while groaning in pain."

The four girls ignored her and turned to Issei with their very same smiles that they gave to him all those years ago.

Issei just stood dumbfounded before he muttered…

"Kaga-san? Atago-san? Kongou-chan? Fubuki-chan?"

The girls nodded before Kaga replied on their behalf "It has been so long Issei, it is a pleasure to see you again after all these years."

Kongou then interrupted Kaga with her shouting. "YES! (in English) I am now more than ready to serve our **beloved** Admiral!"

"Kongou-san!" chided Fubuki as usual "He doesn't know yet!"

"Oh right! Sorry (in English)!" apologized Kongou sheepishly while rubbing the back of her head. But that got Issei confused, why were the girls referring him as Admiral?

Atago, always an expert in interpreting body language, noticed Issei's confusion and comforted him.

"You will know soon enough okay, Issei? Relax, as you now will have us in assisting you as it should be." whereas the other girls corresponded Atago's message and nodded.

"Umm everyone." said Fubuki meekly "There are still some enemies that we need to deal with."

The others heeded Fubuki's reminder of their situation instantly shifted their attention back to the Gremory peerage.

Rias Gremory was beyond furious. Her plan to "recruit" Issei not only failed TWICE, but now several girls had the audacity to attack the ORC building and causing massive damage to it. Akeno, Koneko and Kiba slowly recovered from the shell shock and the explosion and they two showed anger at the situation. Rias Gremory, clearly enraged at the fact that this was not her day, discarded her sense of self-control and unleased an aura of power of destruction as a sign of her anger.

Nonetheless, the angry red-haired female overlord hardly deterred the four girls.

Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki lined up in formation before each person was basked in a glowing yellow light.

Curiously, Issei couldn't help but stare at the four girls that were engulfed in the yellow light but it was slowly increasing in illumination so Issei shut his eyes to prevent blindness.

Soon, the light died down and revealed the transformed attires of Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki. They were much different than the Kuoh Academy uniform that the girls wore before being enveloped in the yellow light.

Kaga was now wearing the same clothes as Issei saw her that day at the bridge. On the other hand, she had a few additions as well. On her back was a quiver for a number of arrows with different coloured fins. Her right hand was now clenching an archery bow with a green arrow ready. That time at the bridge Issei could not see clear her leg wear but he now saw that Kaga was wearing black socks but exposed her upper part of her legs. Her footwear were boots that were actually the cut-section of the bow a ship. She was wearing some sort of plate around her mid-section that resemble a section of a flight deck of an aircraft carrier. The most peculiar accessories of her outfit were two objects: A communication mast was housed on her back, while on her left side a very long aircraft-carrier deck plate was in place that looked like a shield for Kaga.

Atago donned a blue military uniform with a matching military cap that had a European design to hit, the same as the one that Issei saw in his dreams during his time in Yokohama city on the anthropomorphic personification of Heayy Cruiser Atago. The blue uniform covered the upper-body of Atago while a combination of fitting black shorts and black tights provided cover to her legs. A pair of blue high heels protected her legs. Around her waist a belt full of ship equipment that Issei had no idea what they were. A pair of black gloves shielded her hands. Her most signature accessories her two large grey ship cannons that were situated behind her back and faced upwards while forming a V-pattern. The cannons did not resemble battleship cannons so Issei deduced that they were heavy cruiser cannons.

Kongou on the other hand was dressed in a non-traditional shrine maiden attire. The most defining feature of the non-traditional shrine maiden attire were the detached the sleeves and the lack of a long dress that traditionally cover the legs of the shrine maiden. Kongou's orange head ornament had two radar masks on the side of the forehead. Her short black skirt had white frills underneath the black cloth and was exposed at the bottom. The black thigh-high socks and dress left a small section of the thighs of Kongou exposed. A pair of brown short heels provided protection for her legs. Her weapons consisted of a huge metal back-held platform with four battleship cannons. Among all the girls, her armament was the most powerful in terms of appearance.

Lastly, Fubuki was outfitted with the same sailor fuku that Issei saw a few days day ago. The dress was blue while the shirt was white with blue collar and blue-ended sleeves. Her footwear were a pair of metallic shoes that encased the black socks. Her backpack consisted strangely of a smokestack that Issei instantly recognized as the stack from the Fukuki-class destroyer in World War II. On top of that was a metal conning tower with a crow's nest on it. A small ship gun battery was being held by Fubuki's right hand and it was designed to be used by a human hand because it came with a rifle trigger and a handle to steady the weapon. In addition to the turret, her thighs provided another set of armaments for the girl in the form of triple missile tubes encased in a upwards facing small turret, kept in place by two metal strands encircling her legs. (6)

Upon seeing the outfits of Issei, he instantly had a huge realization regarding the identity of his long lost four friends.

"Kaga-san, Atago-san, Kongou-chan, Fubuki-chan, are you….." but Issei was interrupted before he could pry further into the issue by Kaga.

'Not now Admiral, we will talk about it later when you are ready."

With good reasons too, Rias Gremory and her peerage members recovered from the forced entry of Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki, understandably furious at the intruders.

"I DEMAND YOUR IDENITY!" shrieked the catastrophically furious Rias Gremory, evidenced by her heavy panting and glowing red pupils.

The girls hardly bothered to respond to her demand, instead Kongou decided to infuriate the already angry girl.

"Hmm let me tell you something you red-haired spoiled princess." Said Kongou with an angry smile on her face "You are not our leader so we have no need to give you our identity. Besides, you have hurt our precious Admiral, which gives me more than enough reason to burn (in English) you! Admiral, do please watch with attention regarding the upcoming spectular display of my skills and power of the Kongou-class Battleships!"

Kaga followed "Yes, trying to force our Admiral into servitude to the likes of you using blackmailing and attacks. How disgraceful. I am now inclined to unleash my anger and power over you in the name and pride of the 1st Carrier Division." said Kaga while showing absolutely no traces of anger on her face.

Disbelieving that the boy in front of her had any sort of talents to be called such a prestigious title, Rias Gremory let out a humph before she replied "That useless boy besides having a sacred gear could be an Admiral? That is rich coming from a bunch of girl cosplaying as some sort of personifications of World War II vessels! Now leave immediately, I have unfinished business with this pathetic boy, or else I would attack you with my peerage and ensure that you won't make it out alive!"

Atago responded with a smile on her face "Ah, a spoiled princess with absolutely no experience in REAL combat and training of her powers with a group of individuals that couldn't even accept or properly wield their power (Atago again learnt this by just looking at their faces) versus a group of girls with vast experience in combat and adequate training of their weapons? I would really advise you to back down and let us leave with our Admiral, before you further humiliate yourself as our Admiral did a few days ago."

If there was one thing that Rias had in abundance, it was her pride as a member of the Gremory clan. And because of that…

Well.

"Akeno, Koneko, Kiba, attack them!" and the others followed Rias order as it was a clear sign that she refused to back down.

Akeno manifested her lightning in her right hand before concentrating it, intending to unleash a powerful wave of lightning against the girls and Issei. Sadly, her plan backfired when Fubuki fired her "battery gun" at her right hand in a blur, exploding on impact of her hand, causing her to scream in surprise and immeasurable pain as blood started to flow from her wound.

"AKENO!/ AKENO-SAN!" screamed Rias, Koneko and Kiba.

"YOU!" screamed Rias at Issei. She proceeded to leap from her position, intending to rush to Issei to hurt him as an attempt to "cut the head off the snake."

Only for her to be forced back by a huge blast from Kongou's cannons. The power of the cannon was substantial because the blast even caused ripples in the form of smoke around the room. Though the other ship girls have to cover their years because it was so loud. Rias took the full blow of the blast but she was slightly injured. That was because the shell fired from Kongou was just a small round that would not cause any major damage as well as Rias's pure blood demon biology.

"Bucky, good job! But the purple haired girl is beyond your league, work with Atago-san against the boy and the "chibi" girl." Kongou added that teasing slyly.

"Chibi?" muttered Koneko.

The ORC members backed from Koneko due to that insult. With good reason.

Koneko instantly lifted one of the sofas in the clubroom and hurled at Kongou in quiet rage. That attempt was foiled however as it was easily disposed by Atago's cannons.

"Ara, a naughty "chibi" girl deserves to be punished by not giving it what she wants." taunted Atago in a very "Akeno" manner, causing Issei, Kaga, Kongou and Fubuki to sweat drop.

"Is Atago the same person as Akeno besides the power and the outfit?" thought Issei.

Kaga, being the serious leader of the girls, intervened to prevent any more unnecessary bickering. 'Enough, Fubuki, work with Atago against Toujou and Kiba. Kongou, you handle Himejima while I will handle Gremory. Protect the Admiral." ordered Kaga.

"Yes Kaga-san!"

Drawing back the string on the arrow, Kaga applied her strength before she launched the green-coloured arrow from its bow.

The arrow traversed for a small distance before a small explosion occurred on the arrow while emitted smoke that shielded the arrow from view. Rias Gremory laughed at the seemingly failure of Kaga before her eyes widened in surprise. The smoke cleared up and a squadron of seven small green coloured A6M Zero Fighters emerged and fired their wing-mounted machine guns at Rias Gremory. When Rias Gremory tried to prepare her Power of Destruction attack, the pilots of the aircrafts took evasive measures and flew in extremely random patterns, confusing Rias and caused her to disperse her attack because she had no idea of which fighter should she attack first and because of a critical weakness of her power.

When the fighters neared Rias Gremory, then began to fly around the helpless girl like files circling a rotten food. Rias was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers and speed of the fighters. Each time a fighter got a clear shot, the pilot would unleash the fury of its machine guns and cannons, slowly injuring Rias Gremory but not enough to completely defeat her as she was persistent. Kaga decided not to send any more fighters because she could feel the strain already due to the need for resources.

Kongou was having some difficultly with Akeno. The injury courtesy of Fubuki alerted Akeno and she erected serval magic barriers of devil energy to deflect the attacks of Kongou. As a result of those barriers, Akeno managed to deflect most of the attacks from Kongou successfully. Kongou tried to fire gradually more powerful shells against Akeno but because Kongou concentrated her attacks Akeno was able to predict most of the attacks and erected the shield accordingly. When Akeno hurled her lightning at Kongou, the latter managed to evade all the attacks because of her speed as a fast battleship.

Meanwhile, Atago and Fubuki were having trouble as well. They wished to attack Koneko with their combined power but Kiba's speed posed a problem. Utilizing both his knight-granted speed and Sword Birth, Kiba managed to intercept the shells before they could land a hit on Koneko. Koneko slowly approached them, and both girls knew that they would suffer heavy damage if Koneko melee attacked them due to her rook strength.

"Kaga-san." Reported Atago "It's not working!" and Kaga could only nod as the situation at hand became more difficult.

All the while, Issei could only watch the ordeal helplessly. He knew that there was something he could do to help his rescuers but his mind went blank. He did not have any super powers, he did not have any weapons at hand, nor did he had any idea how to combat Rias Gremory. He became frustrated with his helplessness and he had no idea how to help.

" _How could the girls fight so bravely while I am not doing anything to help them? I don't have any weapons that could be effective against the Devils. My poor physical conditions would make me useless as well. I don't even know how to fight them! Oh, if only I know what to do, if only I had anything that could support them! God, please, please help me! Please give me anything, anything to fight, anything to help my friends! I just managed to be reunited with them after all these years and I don't want to lose them! Please God, please help me, I don't want to lose my best friends!_

Unfortunately, none of the grace of the lord assisted Issei Hyoudou. As if God did not exist anymore, the girls slowly started to show fatigue from the battle. Some of Kaga's planes were destroyed by Rias Gremory whom used her Power of Destruction to destroy some of the planes that got too close. Akeno still did not flinch from the attacks from Kongou but the latter started to show some signs of exhaust. Koneko continued her approach to Fubuki and Atago and they still could not break the defence laid by Kiba.

Suddenly, despite being the meekest one, Fubuki came up with an idea.

"Kaga-san! The cap!" Fubuki shouted.

" _What? What cap? What is Fubuki-chan talking about?"_

Kaga left frozen for a moment, causing two of the planes to lose focus and thus fell prey to the Power of the Destruction. The tall girl instantly realized what Fubuki meant.

'Atago, give the cap to Issei! Now!" ordered Kaga.

Atago smiled before she took out a white peaked cap. The white cap had a modern design but it maintained the uniformity of all military peaked cap, a black beak extended from the black polished leather situated below the white materials. There were some gold decals on the peak as well. A black badge was kept in place on the cap, a golden anchor was encased within the badge.

"Issei-kun, catch!" cried out the blonde haired girl before she hurled the cap at Issei.

Wasting no time, Issei managed to catch the cap but then he had idea what to do with it? _"What's with the cap anyway?"_ he pondered.

"Put it on Admiral!" shouted Kongou "Then you will understand (in English)."

With no options, Issei put on the cap.

He was in for a surprise when the cap touched his head.

Flood of information and images entered his mind, information regarding some naval tactics and images of weapons, ships and girls as well. Issei could barely handle the information overload for he clenched his head in pain as the brain struggled to process the wave of information.

Finally, the out of control wave of data stopped but Issei felt something else.

Some sort of "channel" with someone else's mind as he caught a glimpse from their eyes. Later, thoughts and emotions invaded his mind, challenging him to maintain control.

After he did, he then could heard some voices that were much clearer than before.

" _Is the Admiral alright?"_

" _Admiral, please be okay!"_

" _We need your help soon or we might not victorious, Admiral."_

Issei instantly recognized the voice and figured out that the voices were the thoughts of Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki. And he could talk communicate with them directly through telepathy. Just as when he wanted to communicate with them, he instantly recognized that he need to focus on the enemies first.

Issei subsequently entered into an observation stance and tried to figure out the enemy's weakness.

That did not went unnoticed to the four girls.

' _Issei/ Issei-kun/ The Admiral is now observing the enemy to come up with a plan, we need to buy him more time."_

The girls, despite started to slowly losing their momentum, held their ground in hopes that their Admiral could come up with a plan.

Issei slowly observed the patterns of how the ORC members attack. He could see clearly that Kiba was very fast and it would be hard to defeat him with just fire power alone. Koneko was protected by Kiba as she slowly advanced toward Atago and Fubuki, however he discovered that Koneko seemed to be focusing on Atago only which he suspected was due to Koneko unable to focus on multiple enemies. There was no flaw or openings with Akeno's attack so Issei believed that only through sheer power could they defeat Akeno. Rias was overwhelmed by the fighters from Kaga, but she did not use the power of destruction to destroy the fighters or at least continuingly. Should Akeno, Kiba and Koneko managed to defeat the girls however they could easily support Rias and achieve victory.

With that, Issei gambled on the possible weakness of the ORC members and laid out a plan.

The ship girls instantly knew from the "bond" that Issei had a plan.

" _Good work, Admiral!"_

Revisiting the plan for flaws, Issei determined that it was enough and prepare to execute it. But he first needed to continue stalling Rias Gremory.

So, he communicated with Kaga through telepathy.

Kaga was in a dilemma. She already sent another seven A6M Zero fightes, but Rias Gremory was slowly destroying her planes. Her strain and fatigue was obvious because she need a lot of energy to send another squadron. She did not want to lose any more energy in huge amount but if she couldn't replace her planes, Rias could then break free from being pinned down and assist her peerage.

Just then, Kaga could feel Issei communicating with her through her mind and she instantly accepted it.

" _Kaga-san?"_

' _Yes Admiral?"_

" _You must continue to stall Gremory so that the others would have time to defeat the other ORC members and assist you. Send some more planes to distract her."_

" _I agree Admiral, but I already lost some planes. If I launch another squadron of fighters then I would be defeated because I would run out of energy to maintain them."_

" _I didn't say that you must send out_ _ **fighter**_ _aircraft Kaga-san."_ thought Issei.

Instantly caught on Issei's meaning, Kaga reached to her quiver and pulled out two white arrows before launching them at Rias.

Like the green arrow, the white arrows exploded and covered them from view. After the smoke clears, fourteen fighter-sized miniature aircraft made their way to Rias and flew in the same manner as the fighter before. The difference was however, these aircrafts were not fighters but mere reconnaissance aircrafts and they do not use as much energy as the A6M fighters due to lack of weapons, so Kaga could send them out without fear of losing a lot of energy.

The increased number of aircraft was successful in further distracting Rias and the girl was shouting in frustration. She won't be breaking out of the fur ball for a while, allowing Issei to concentrate on something else.

The new Admiral concentrated on communicating with Atago and Fubuki through telepathy.

" _Fubuki, Atago can you hear me?"_

' _Yes Admiral"_

" _To defeat both of them, we have to defeat Kiba first if we want deliver a hit to Toujou. Understand?"_

" _Understood/Crystal Clear Admiral"_

" _Fubuki, cease your attacks and stay idle to bait Kiba. When he attacks, dodge quickly to avoid it. If you continue firing your cannon he would just intercept them anyway. Your speed as a destroyer should allow you to evade with little problems, Atago-san will have some difficulty."_

" _Yes Admiral!"_

With that, Fubuki took a small step and stood idle. Kiba took the bait and launched himself at Fubuki with his sword ready and intending to pierce Fubuki.

Using her speed, Fubuki managed to jump out of the way just in time before she could be sliced. Kiba landed on the ground and he needed to catch his breath after such prolonged running, but left himself exposed to Atago's cannons.

' _Atago, aim for his legs! If his legs are damaged, then he can't use his speed against us."_

Atago nodded cheerfully at her Admiral's order.

"Ta da ta da! Take this!" said Atago happily while firing her cannons that were aimed at Kiba's legs.

The sound from the blast alerted Kiba but it was too late.

" **BOOM!"**

"ARGH!" screamed Kiba in pain. The injured swordsman fell down while clutching his bleeding legs. Both his legs took full impact of the attack as his response was poor. Blood continued to flow from the wounds. His Devil biology ensured that he would recover, but the sheer pain was more than enough in putting Kiba out of battle.

As Kiba continued to scream in pain, Koneko's concern for Kiba and rage at Issei and his girls for harming Kiba stirred up intense anger at Issei. The rage within her grew with every step she took towards Issei. Slowly her supressed emotional mind started to scream vengeance at Issei Hyoudou for causing all the troubles today including the injury done to Kiba, her rational mind continued to plead her that Issei had no direct responsibility because he had already said he did not want to join but her master used blackmail to force him, yet unfortunately it was losing to her emotional side. Her loyal side also argued that no one should disrespect Rias Gremory.

As Koneko started to lose to her anger, the body language expert Atago stared at the white-haired girl with alarm in her eyes. She did not feel any sympathy for Koneko as she also harmed her Admiral, but she knew very well about the truth and history surrounding Koneko and knew should that she lose control then the Admiral would be in serious danger. Atago didn't want to use force put Koneko down but the safety of her Admiral is above all matters. She concentrated her mental link with Issei.

" _Admiral?"_

" _Yes Atago?"_

" _The white-haired girl Toujou-san had a power that could be unleashed out of control should her anger get the better of her. The defeat of Kiba-san is acting as a catalyst for her anger, should we do not knock her out she could be a danger to us."_

" _Thanks for your report, I already had a plan regarding her, but you need to distract her. Can you fire some small-round ammunitions that could stop her but not directly injuring her?"_

" _Yes Admiral."_

Obeying her Admiral's order, Atago directed her cannons to loud Type 312 ammunition onto it. Willing (which mean aiming) her cannons to Koneko, Atago prepared to fire her cannon. Before she fired her cannons however, she gave Koneko a stern gaze telling her to back down unless she wants to be hurt. Sadly, the already angry white-haired girl shut out all reason and backing down was the last thing on her list. Atago could only shook her head at the situation.

' _Fubuki?"_ thought Issei.

" _Yes Admiral?"_

" _Use your speed to find a way to flank Koneko Toujou. I had observed her behaviour, she has very powerful defensive and offensive abilities so direct attack would be useless. However, from what I have seen so far, she need to focus her defence or attacks at one point and I gamble that she had difficulty in handling attacks from multiple directions. Attacking from multiple directions might distract her and allow her to be defeated. Atago will distract her but you have to move quickly to avoid being detected."_

' _Yes Admiral."_

While Fubuki was preparing herself against Koneko, Issei contacted Kaga for another order.

" _Kaga-san, direct some of your fighters to attack Koneko Toujou, we need to distract her even more. With Kiba down and Akeno being distracted by Kongou, those three won't be rushing to Rias aid anytime or vice versa. So it is safe to redirect some of your fighters."_

' _Understood."_

With order given out, four of the remaining Zero fighters changed course and headed towards Koneko. The fighters fired their machine guns again and slowed down Koneko, but they instead were exposed to Atago's Type 312 shells.

" _Admiral, those planes are in the way."_ communicated Atago mentally.

" _Use your mental link to tell the fighters to disperse when you say "fire" to them. Don't give Koneko a chance to know that you are firing."_

" _Understood."_

Atago readied her cannons while the fighters continued their barrage of bullets.

" _Fire."_

With lightning reflexes, the fighters immediately dispersed and got out of the way of fire. Confirming her allies were out of the firing range, Atago fired her cannons.

The Type 312 shells screamed towards, but Koneko noticed the shells were not heading directly to her. The shells were approaching above her.

" **BOOM!"** The shell exploded and a hail of metal dispersed from the exploded shell. They showered down over Koneko in a clustered manner, trapping Koneko and preventing her from proceeding forward. Koneko growled in anger at Atago but Atago did not falter her stern gaze.

That was the distraction.

" _Fubuki, fire all your weapons!"_

" _Yes Admiral! Special Type Destroyer Fubuki, engage!"_

Another " **BOOM!"** and Koneko's back was hit by both the missiles fired from Fubuki's thigh-held missile tubes batteries and the shells fired from Fubuki's "battery gun". When Koneko was distracted with Atago's Type 312 shells, Fubuki used the opportunity to move behind Koneko as fast as her limit allows while preparing her weapons. She knew that just with her gun battery would not be enough so she need to fire her missiles as well to compensate the lack of power. Beyond furious, Koneko turned around and rushed towards Fubuki.

Fortunately, Fubuki managed to jump away from her spot with surgical precision. She managed to jump just before Koneko could land a hit on her. Once again, Koneko made the mistake of allowing herself to be distracted and she paid for it by a direct hit from Atago on her head with ordinary shells and knocking her out.

"KIBA! KONEKO!" screamed Rias Gremory. "You sick person!" screamed Rias at Issei. Obviously blaming all the injuries of her peerage members of Issei, (Kaga, Atago snorted while Kongou and Fubuki just frowned at the insult directed at Issei)

Type 312 shell actually stands for **"Type 3 shell, scaled down variant for Heavy Cruisers."** The "12" stands for "1/2 or half." The Type 3 shells were cluster shells that were useful in saturation attacks or anti-aircraft defence should the shells were fired with an accurate and calculated trajectory. However, default Type 3 shells were too big for heavy cruisers as they were for battleships and the battleship cannons were far larger by default, so the Type 312 shells was scaled down so that the Heavy Cruisers could still use the power but at the expense of decreased damage.

With Kiba and Koneko down, Issei and his girls were gaining the upper hand. But Akeno, as the queen and most powerful piece of Rias's Peerage, refused to back down. She had lost her usual smile on her face and a deep angry glare had already made its way to her face, completely shattering the Yamato Nadeshiko image. She held her ground against Kongou, whom delivered a continuous barrage of cannon shells but was continuously deflected by the magic barriers conjured by Akeno.

" _Now, Atago, Fubuki, converge your firepower and assist Kongou in attacking Akeno! Kaga, direct the four planes that assisted the attack on Koneko to attack Rias again!"_

" _Yes Admiral!"_

Atago immediately aimed her cannons at Akeno while Fubuki proceeded towards Kongou. Meanwhile, the four planes returned to attacking Rias.

Akeno saw that the other two peerage members were defeated and her rage at the white-capped Issei amplified her powers that correspond to the uses's emotions. Kongou, after many success in evading her attacks, was finally hit on her shoulder.

"BANG!" and then the upper left cannon was disabled as it took a full hit. Kongou looked at it and instead of complaining about the pain she entered her "Self-Proclaimed Wife of Issei Hyoudou" mode.

"Huu! My perfect body was being scratched by some second-rate attacker! How am I supposed to present myself to my husband?"

Kaga and Fubuki sweat dropped while Atago could only laughed helplessly.

But it had an opposite effect on Akeno.

Akeno was many things: the Second Onne- sama of Kuoh Academy, the most trusted friend of Rias Gremory, the Yamato Nadeshiko of Kuoh Academy and the Lightning Priestess, but she was no "second-rate attacker!" To describe her as furious would be an understatement.

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" yelled Akeno "I AM NOT A SECOND-RATE ATTACKER! I AM AKENO HIMEJIMA, THE LIGHTNING PRIESTESS AND QUEEN OF RIAS GREMORY OF THE GREMORY CLAN!"

"She has completely lost it." commented Fubuki.

But Kongou didn't stop there.

"Really, Second-Rate Attacker? You call yourself a queen? Pa, I had faced far worse enemies that those with your standard. Ha, you might think that conjuring some powerful magical barriers would make you a powerful opponent! Well let me tell you, "Mrs Devil who continued to deny her own power and make some pathetic excuses to justify her actions" you seriously think that you could protect your "precious master" when you refused to accept you power? Ha, that doesn't make you strong, rejecting your own power is more than ample evidence that you are weak!" taunted Kongou.

"I AM NOT WEAK!"

'Yes you are!"

"I AM NOT! I WILL MAKE YOU PAY FOR YOUR DISRESPECT!"

"You have to be respected before you could be disrespected, and I say that you don't have my respect at all."

Fubuki and Atago were confused why Kongou would waste her time bickering with Akeno, but they slowly started to see that because Akeno was not in control of her emtions, her control over her powers was slipping. Already they could see the magic barriers faltering in power.

It wasn't long until it drawn to them. Kongou's provocation was to make Akeno losing her temper and therefore control of powers, allowing them to have an opening. Must be part of a plan from Issei himself.

And that opening came, a particular spot on her barrier was weakened due to her poor control. Atago and Fubuki exploited this weakness by firing their weapons at the weaken spot.

The projectiles impacted on the barrier weak spot, shattering it and make contact with Akeno's skin. Screaming in both pain and rage, Akeno turned to Atago and Fubuki with a glare before she ate another shell thanks to Kongou. Akeno's control over her barrier was completely lost, and then Issei through his mental link ordered the three girls minus Kaga to synchronize their fire power to attack Akeno.

The three aimed their weapons at Akeno and fired.

" **BOOM!"**

And the queen fell from battle, taking all full three loads of projectiles.

"AKENO!" screamed Rias in desperation and rage. This battle was lost for her.

"Good work Kongou-chan you performed well. Your provocations worked like a charm."

"Thanks Admiral! I did it just for you!" and Issei just petted her head to calm her down.

"Provisional, Kongou." and then Kongou just cried.

Kaga was having a bit of a trouble as the fatigue was really starting to affect her. _"Admiral could you please do that later as we still have a battle to fight."_

" _Right, everyone attack Rias Gremory!"_

With that, everyone corresponded. Kaga withdrew her reconnaissance planes and prepared for her black arrow that would spawn bombers, Atago and Kongou aimed all their operational cannons to Rias Gremory and Fubuki not only loaded her "battery gun" but also prepared her missiles.

" _On my mark!"_ and all were prepared.

" _FIRE!"_

A chorus of projectiles and planes were fired at Rias Gremory, engulfing her in smoke.

Rias Gremory was completely overwhelmed.

After a while, the smoke cleared and revealed a battered Rias Gremory as well as her peerage. Rias was kneeing on the ground, using both of her scar-filled hands to support herself. Unable to accept the fact that she had been defeated, she shifted her rage and hatred-filled weak glare towards Issei and shouted.

"I HATE YOU!"

Issei sighed as he did not let Rias bother him. He and his long lost friends had won. He had preserved his humanity with the help of the girls.

But the most important reward, was that he was at last reunited with his life friends.

Now, he was more than determined to upkeep the prize that he had won today – his humanity and his friendship with them.

However, the injuries sustained from Rias's attacks, combining with the outfit and powers of Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki was too much for him, and he collapsed into unconsciousness, right into the waiting arms of Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki.

As Issei rested, the girls smiled tiredly and warmly at the unconsciousness form of Issei. They had at last reunited with their beloved Admiral. Now, after this battle that determined Issei's humanity, they were now more than ready and willing to protect and serve Issei as they should have done during the time in Yokohama city.

Just then, footsteps echoed the building. Sona Stiri and the Student Council members plus Sona Stiri's Peerage members arrived on scene and scaled the destruction of it. Sona sighed in frustration before she muttered.

"I told Rias to drop the desire to recruit Issei into her peerage by force but she didn't listen. Must have been Sizerchs's support and her situation with the Phenex family that caused her to be this desperate. "Sigh", have to clean up this mess and report back to the Underworld." After saying that, Sona turned to Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki which the latter three were a bit nervous but Kaga whom hidden her emotions after Sona's entry stepped forward and said.

"I would like to apologize for the damage caused by us. It was inexcusable…." but Sona held her right hand and said 'No Kaga Takara, I understand the situation and quite frankly I don't blame you since this might be the only way in preserving his humanity. The Evil Pieces had a "failsafe" system that should the servant used any methods to try to remove the pieces within him or her, the pieces would kill the servant. Had Rias been successful, Issei would be doomed to be her servant forever and the Devil laws were just enforcing unconditional loyalty to the master of the peerage."

The girls sighed as they were off the hook.

"I would do the damage control here as I am the Student Council President. Now, take Issei and go to your residence for rest and recovery. Should you need some days off for recovery, just contact me and I will help you."

While Atago, Kongou and Fubuki had no problems with Sona's generosity, Kaga was cautious and asked Sona "Why are you so generous to Issei? Forgive me for asking as I am not questioning your generosity but I want to ask why you give so much to him as you barely know him."

"Hyoudou-kun has earned my respect because he treasured and maintained his own free will and do not sway easily to wealth and power. Have it been a normal person, most would instantly fell to the seduction of wealth and power offered by the Devils peerage offer but Hyoudou-kun resisted and preserved his own humanity when we met. This is what I am looking for in my peerage, I want someone who were not just with some incredible power and would be swayed by wealth and power, rather I want someone that has good reason for being in my peerage and with proper motivation, **and chooses under their own free will**. Recruiting greedy or forced person would just makes me worry about their loyalty and being killed by your own peerage member during your sleep is the worst way to die."

Kaga nodded but she pried more.

"About the situation with Gremory (she said that with some hatred in her tone), what makes her so desperate that she must have Issei as part of her peerage?" asked Kaga

To her disappointment, Sona just shook her head before she replied.

"Despite her appalling attitude today, she is still my childhood friend and as a friend I need to be able to keep secrets. All I can tell is that Rias Gremory is in a situation that is really against her will and she wants to get herself out of it by herself since even her parents were not supporting her. However, she did not have many cards on her sleevs so she searched for more. Hyoudou-kun was a primary target because she thought that Issei was still the massive pervert that he was originally during his first two months here, so he could be swayed easily and get some usage of his "sacred gear". She never really bothered to understand him but so do I."

"Sacred Gear?" asked the four girls.

"Another time, not today as you need to take care of your Admiral."

Since it was a good reason, the girls decided to call it a day and carry the Admiral back to their "HQ" but Kaga was called again by Sona.

Kaga then asked Atago, Kongou and Fubuki to carry Issei back to their "HQ" while she stayed behind and talked with Sona.

"Anything else Sona." The bespectacled Devil sighed before she spoke in an earnest tone.

"I am not going to lie Kaga-san, today's battle is just the hint of what the future has in store for you. You will face far more battles relating to supernatural, so I strongly suggest that you and your friends to give every support to Issei, As he is your admiral, he will also be the one that is mostly likely to be targeted among all of you. Since you and your group have a very good relationship with your Admiral, do please support him to the very end, he will need all the help he can get from you all. That is the only way to protect from incidents like today. Today is a close call, you are lucky that Issei managed to stall enough time for you but you can't bet on it the second time because you might not be lucky."

Kaga nodded as she had substantial understanding of the grim situation should her Admiral fall.

"Oh and, once your Admiral recovered, do tell him regarding your resupply difficulty and see if he could find out a solution though I am sure with his hidden intelligence he could be successful. But now I think it is too much for Issei, so let him rest. Good luck to you Kaga."

Kaga nodded thankfully before she set off to the "HQ"

Just then, after calling all others to leave the room, Sona pulled out a head ornament from her storage dimension. The orange head ornament was similar to the orange radar mast headband from Kongou.

She put it on and it was a much different person that was now resting in Sona Stiri.

"Please help him and safe me, Kongou nee-sama.

* * *

" **HQ = Residence of Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki"**

After the battle, the girls were enjoying a well-deserved rest, with Issei as well.

The "HQ" as the girls called it was actually their residence in the town of Kuoh. It was an old and unused twin-story building that was situated near the edge of the town, but it was still in acceptable condition when the girls acquired it a while ago. It did take a while for the girls to restore the building to a functioning status but it was now okay. The first floor housed a living room which the group was resting now, a small kitchen, a small washroom and a huge bath that could house serval people at a time. On the second floor, there were serval very small rooms that could fulfil the basic functions of a room (sleeping and studying), serval washrooms a storage room that was not being used yet.

The girls acquired money by a secret ally operating within the school. However, they decided to tell Issei later.

Which brings us to now.

Issei was now sleeping peacefully on Atago's lap, the latter gently stroke his head while he rested. Kongou was sitting beside Atago but she was a bit jealous that Atago got to held Issei while she couldn't (The ohers decided to do so because Kongou was too energetic and could easily woke Issei up). Kongou's damaged cannon will be repaired gradually but the supplies needed to do so was in short supply so they would have to figure it out later.

Fubuki was sitting beside Kongou and Atago, proficiently cleaning the peaked cap that Issei wore during the ordeal in the ORC clubroom. After taking off the cap, the girls knew that Issei would not possess the same amount of intelligence and skill in tactics when he wore the cap. Still, it was better to be clean than dirty.

Kaga was slowly preparing dinner, though the recipes were provided by Kongou. Since both Atago and Kongou were needed to mend Issei's injuries (mostly Atago's part), Kaga volunteered to cook. She was a good cook too but pale in comparison with Atago and Kongou.

However, Sona's word still haunt her mind. If there were others besides their own enemy that were aftering Issei, than four girls would not be enough eventually in protecting her Admiral. She would have to discuss this with the girls but not Issei after dinner. Today's ordeal had already taken its toll on Issei, and Kaga believed that Issei would be instantly briefed about the situation at hand once he finished resting.

Kaga brushed off the other thoughts and continued to cook dinner.

* * *

 **20 minutes later.**

The girls finished their dinner while saving a portion for Issei to eat after he wakes up. But right now they have a discussion of important matters by Kaga.

Kaga, regarded by others as the leading ship girl due to her mature personality, told the others about Sona's warning to her as well as her concern with the resupplying problem.

"Everyone, I know that we don't trust Devils due to Gremory but Stiri-san had revealed an important point that I think we should consider."

"What is it" asked Kongou in English.

"Today's battle is just the first of many battles. Since our existence will be gradually revealed to the supernatural, it is obvious that some with "questionable intent" would be interested in kanmusu and might target Issei. Since Issei is our Admiral and has control over us, killing him will be akin to we be forced to find a new Admiral, which we all agree that this is the last thing we would consider right."

All the others nodded. They wouldn't want to look for another Admiral, not since they had sworn to follow Issei due to some "history".

"Therefore, it is imperative that we protect the Admiral at all costs, so I would like it if everyone give their fullest in helping Issei since he will need all the help he can get and that is from us."

No words were necessary between them, they all knew that they would give their fullest to protect their admiral even if it means exhausting themselves.

"The second most important thing is resupplying. Despite our small income from our ally Kiyome in the school, food could only get us so far in repairing damaged equipment. That reminds me, Kongou what is your damage report regarding your upper left turret."

For once, Kongou lost all her smile and cheerful expression and adopted a serious approach. Kongou knew that repair was heavily connected with resupplying and there was no room for jokes.

'When I was provoking that Himejima girl with "second-rate attacker comment", I was telling the truth. Himejima did managed to hit my upper left turret with her lightning and disabled it. Upon diagnosing the turret, it was found that the lightning was actually very weak and it only managed to scratch my cannons. However, the lightning did scrambled the targeting and loading system in the turret, thus it is the reason why I can't use after that girl hit me with her pathetic lightning. It takes only 2 days of rest and then the turret will be operational again without using much of any resources."

'Good, because summarizing today's battle, we got lucky today. As we attract more supernatural, more will try to attack us or the Admiral, so the equipment would be easily worn out or damaged. At that time, the enemies would surely deploy far more powerful attack units and their damage could cause our equipment to be heavy damaged that require resources to build. Once the admiral recovered and understood the world we would advise the Admiral to find ways to resupply us."

"The third is concerning about the safety of our Admiral and our numbers. The safety of our Admiral comes first but I believe that eventually four of us is not enough. Since there are far more kanmusu out there. I believe that if the Admiral could recruit serval more kanmusu to assist us, then not only Admiral's safety will be guaranteed but also we would be less likely to be fatigued."

"Fourth, it is about the admiral. It is clear that the admiral has not fully recovered his memories yet and his skills and tactics would only exist and utilized if he wear the cap. We however, cannot just tell everything to him because it might be hard for him to believe until he truly accepted, so we will slowly and gradually try to stir up the memories inside Issei's brain, which might also help us to find more kanmusu in the future."

Again, nothing much against, so the idea was agreed

"Then it is settled then, our plans would start once the Admiral recovered and ready for action. We better be ready before "they" return."

And so the meeting ended.

A small mumbling caught the girls' attention, and Issei was awake from its sleep. They rushed to his side, happy to see him again after all these years of separation.

Issei rubbed his eyes before he opened them, and to his delight in front of him were his friends (remember when he takes off the cap some of his memoires were erased for some reason). But he want to confirm.

"Kaga-san? Atago-san? Kongou-chan? Fubuki-chan?"

The girls nodded happily before they engulfed Issei in a huge hug, which Issei responded wholeheartedly at the thought of reuniting with his best friends.

"It has been too long, far too long my best friends." muttered Issei which the others agreed.

"Issei, eat first." said Kaga before she presented Issei's meal.

The brown haired took a bite of the food, and then a small tear flowed down his face – he really missed the cooking from the girls minus Fubuki since Fubuki never cooked.

After the meal, Issei and the girls sat at the living room, discussing what to do next.

'What do you want to do, Admiral?" asked Kongou.

Issei pondered for a few moments before he turned to Kaga.

"Kaga-san?"

Kaga shook her head before she said with a warm smile "Call me Kaga-chan Issei"

Issei blushed a bit before he continued.

'Can you sing for me?"

Instantly, the other girls pleaded with Kaga as well since she was a very good singer.

Kaga nodded then turned to Issei.

"What song do you want me to sing, Issei?" asked Kaga.

He instantly replied.

"The song that you sang at that student concert during our time in Yokohama: Kaga Misaki (AKA: Cape Kaga)"

Kaga instantly smiled, that song carried very fond memories of herself, Issei, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki during their time in Yokohama.

"Yes Issei, I will sing this song for you after all these years!" and the others cheered.

Atago subsequently prepared a stereo with the music of Kaga's song while Kongou readied the mike for Kaga to sing.

Fubuki decided to record the whole performance since they did not when Kaga sang last time. She took out her smartphone and activated the video recording from the camera app.

Just as Kaga finished testing the mike, Atago adjusted the stereo and gave Kaga an OK gesture to indicate that she could sing.

Atago gave the final countdown:

"3"

"2"

"1"

 **[Kaga Misaki/ Cape Kaga (Full Version), Sung by: Yuka Iguchi (Voice actress of Kantai Collection Kaga) : Copyright goes to original song owners and Yuka Iguchi] (** **7)**

 _ **The**_ _ **fukusa**_ _ **gathered in these hands, the colour of a dying autumn**_

 _ **If I open these eyes and gaze at that face**_

 _ **Rest these wings and we will overcome the stormy seas**_

 _ **If our fingers would intertwine and you would hold me close**_

 _ **Then I will not fear even the blazing ocean**_

 _ **Release these wings and advance into the sky of battles**_

 _ **You and I, if we shoot these arrows, yes**_

 _ **The hazy moonlit night is beautiful, isn't it**_

 _ **In the battle of this night**_

 _ **Unable to swallow my pride I shall not give in**_

 _ **Such is the heart of a woman**_

 _ **This single feeling I hold close to my chest**_

 _ **I am fine just this way**_

 _ **So long as my heart will remain**_

 _ **Face the ocean, this one wish**_

 _ **This is the pride of a million**_ _ **koku**_

 _ **Cape Kaga**_

While listening to the music, Issei was awestruck with how Kaga preformed so naturally and sung so passionately despite her usually emotionless approach. Kaga was a warrior but she also carried the spirit of a singer. The most important thing regarding it however, was how this song caused all his good times with Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki during Yokohama city to surface in his mind.

 _ **The gloves these fingers touched remain warm**_

 _ **If I leave this heart and look ahead**_

 _ **Fold these wings, face port and return home**_

 _ **Despite this killing sentiment**_

 _ **I do not wish to show the weakness in my heart**_

 _ **The young cranes too run towards the sea of battles**_

 _ **The first arrow, the second arrow, if we shoot these arrows, yes**_

 _ **It would be so simple, however**_

 _ **In this battle**_

 _ **I cannot let my guard down, I should not be able**_

 _ **Such is the heart of a woman**_

 _ **This single feeling I hold close to my chest**_

 _ **I am fine just this way**_

 _ **So long as something will remain**_

 _ **Face Mount Akagi, this one wish**_

 _ **These are the prayers of a million**_ _ **koku**_

 _ **Cape Kaga**_

The other girls agreed that if there was one thing that Kaga was good at it would be singing. Even this song caused them to remember all the good times during their school years in Yokohama. They just loved how treasuring those times were, the only thing that was better than the upcoming cruelties that they will have to face.

 _ **You and I, if we would shoot these arrows, see**_

 _ **The falling sakura are beautiful, aren't they**_

 _ **In the battle of this night too**_

 _ **Unable to swallow my pride I should not be able to back down**_

 _ **Such is the heart of a woman**_

 _ **This single feeling I hold close to my chest**_

 _ **I am fine just this way**_

 _ **So long as my heart will remain**_

 _ **I cannot forget this one feeling**_

 _ **Such is the pride of a million**_ _ **koku**_

 _ **Cape Kaga**_

After the song, the entire gang just stood amazed at Kaga's performance before they all clapped their hands, cheering Kaga for such exemplary performance. Kaga stood embarrassed from such sheering but she nonetheless gave her smile that was reserved only for Issei, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki. Even she remembered the good times during Yokohama, especially how the song reminded her the time where she and Issei practice archery for the national championship as the song mentioned archery as well. But most importantly, she was delighted to see Issei's smile after all these years of separation and loneliness on Issei's part.

Issei, while continued to cheer, started to enter into his own thoughts.

" _I have lost a lot all these years since I was forced to leave Yokohama, forced to left behind my friends and unable to contact them. Being casted as a reject by both my school and parents. Just when I thought that I would lose everything and gain nothing in return, fate organized Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki to return on the day that I was attacked by the Devils. It was through both the care from the four girls and Kaga's song that I loved so much that I just felt that I had regained something. Though I am still certain that I still have a lot to discover about myself since I don't know why I had some sort of pass life with Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki before. I am sure that there will be countless challenges that I will need to face in the future, and I might not like what I will found out about myself. But, if there is one thing that I learned is that as long as you have your friends you won't need to be afraid."_

Issei looked into his clenched fist and decided.

" _I am still a closet pervert, and I indeed need to amend that. But I am now determined to not only be with my friends, but also help them on our journey. I just hope that I will have the power to one day help Kaga, Atago, Kongou and Fubuki as much as possible. However, at the end, the thing I must do is to never give up!"_

As if responding to his will, Issei's white peaked cap's golden anchor decal shined brightly on the coffee table that it rested on. Its shine was like giving a message to Issei that it will support him all the way.

The journey has now begun!

* * *

(1): Infinite Stratos Chifuyu's signature move

(2): Based on Kantai Collection doujinshi "Admiral's Wife Kongou (Self Proclaimed)"

(3): Based on Kantai Collection Anime Episode 4

(4): Based on Kantai Collection Anime Episode 4 (Originally: Kiss, Kiss! Kiss, Kiss, Admiral!)

(5): Based on Kantai Collection Anime Episode 8

(6): I know that in canon those missile batteries were actually torpedoes but since this fanfic would not involve the sea torpedoes doesn't make sense (they don't drill underground!) so I instead opted for missiles (WWII generation) because most of the similarities including the lack of guidance (both WWII torpedoes and missiles had no guidance and will just travel in straight line)

(7): The lyrics are from Kantai collection wiki ( wiki/User_blog:ToastSoul/Cape_Kaga)

* * *

Kantai Collection + Highschool DxD Crossover (Credit and inspiration goes to Kantai DxD fanfic by Prince Arjuna)

In this alternate universe, Hyoudou Issei was a originally mediocre junior - highschool student living in Yokohama close to the sea with the fascination of military ships and still a pervert though he was a closet one. A visit to an exhibition in the museum (NYK Maritime Museum) displaying models of WWII Kongou, WWII Fubuki, WWII Kaga, WWII Atago causes him to have weird dreams of fighting alongside the anthropomorphic personifications of the WWII vessels displayed in the museum, but it seems that these visions spoke of a past life.

Not long after, his high school in Yokohama had several new students that had the same appearances (minus the uniform of school) of the personified WWII vessels from his dreams. The first name of these girls also contained the ship names of the models from the museum. All these girls are very friendly and overly fond of Issei (from a stranger level), causing him to be confused as it looks like they had met before. Still, they got along well during the junior highschool years and formed a good friendship. Issei also studied much harder and got good results.

Sadly, Issei transferred to Kuoh because of his parents' shift of work to Kuoh town and ended up in the Kuoh academy as same as in canon. His sadness of being separated from his close friends and his stained relationship with his parents causes him to try to work hard for his studies and developed a passion for naval tactics, something that isolated him from others including members of the canon pervert trio. Unknowingly, he mysteriously attracted the attention of the fallen angels, the devils, the angels and the youkai led by Kiyome Abe and Yasaka.

When Rias Gremory approaches him with an offer to join her peerage at the cost of his humanity, he downright refused in a "rude" manner, causing Rias to be angered. Issei did not know that he has a hidden ability to assist in Gremory's ambition and plans, but his understanding of the strings attached to the offer of a peerage of himself from Gremory (due to his intelligence it causes him to realize what the subtle string in the offer and refused). Sona Sitri approached him with the deal as well which he refused but Sona showed understanding of his desire to remain human and promises not to bother him again, gaining his respect. Sona left a warning to him, telling him that Gremory is desperate and will not stop at any cost in getting what she wants due to her upbringing and her situation.

One day, when he was on the street, he thought that he saw Fubuki and later Kaga.

Gremory decided to blackmail Issei so that he will be forced to join her peerage. She managed to acquire Issei's previous student information during his time in Yokohama and she threatened that she will use her influences in the school to spread false rumors of him raping the ship girls unless he joins them (or any other ways to blackmail him). She did not know that her plans were exposed by someone.

On the day that Rias Gremory cornered him, Issei managed to stall long enough to see the return of Fubuki, Kaga, Kongou and Atago whom they stormed into the ORC clubroom. The girls later manifested their kanmusu form and defended Issei. Issei, during the battle, put on the cap that the ship girls gave to him and he successfully defeated the devils (there is a reason with the hat). Sona, hearing what Rias had done, managed to salvage the situation without exposing supernatural but gave a grave warning to Gremory that she cannot expect to force Issei to her peerage just to get out of her situation.

Getting reacquainted with his ship girls, Issei needs to deal with an ever persistent Rias Gremory that still desired him to be in her peerage but also he started to encounter more supernatural trying to harm human society. Declaring himself to be a human, he and his ship girls will need to work together to safeguard humanity from the threat of supernatural. But they need to find a way to resupply the ship girls without joining any factions.

This is their story

Characters: Main Group + Important additions

Issei Hyoudou: Human, for some reason (you name it) he has sort of a previous life with the ship girls, more intelligent than counterpart. Still perverted but closet. Loyal to humanity, experiences with the Gremory clan causes him to have a low regard for devils. Although dislike devils in general, he respects Sona Sitri and vice versa. Has a white military peaked cap that when he wears, his intelligence and tactics will improve.

Kaga (Civilian Last name: The civilan name in the Prologue is not a requirement, all writers are free to think of the names): Ship Girl/Human hybrid (or your choice): Considered as the leader figure of the ship girls. Cool and calm. A bit against of Issei's perverted side but very fond of him. Want to find Akagi and ask her to join Issei (successful). Distrustful of Devils but respect Sona Sitri. Has a big appetite. Possess talent for music and love to sing Kaga Misaki (Cape Kaga). The slowest of the four. Part of Main 4 ship girls.

Atago (Civilian Last name) Ship Girl/Human hybrid (or your choice): The Big Sister figure. Caring, independent. She looks after everyone in the fleet and Issei. Distrustful of Devils. Skill in culinary and often compete with Kongou on cooking. Good at detecting body language. Second fastest among the girls, Part of Main 4 ship girls.

Kongou (Civilian Last name) Ship Girl/Human hybrid (or your choice): The bubbly girl. Among the ship girls, she is the fondest of Issei and calling him Teitoku/Admiral all the time. Second Slowest of the girls. Distrustful of Devils but very subtle. Considers Fubuki as her little sister and call her Bucky. Looks for her sister ships (Hiei, Haruna and Kirishima). Part of Main 4 ship girls.

Fubuki (Civilian Last name) Ship Girl/Human hybrid (or your choice): The most inexperienced but most determined one. She in the "previous life" of Issei was adopted as a little sister of Issei, regarding Issei as the big brother in most situation. Often paired up with Kongou in battles but often felt uneasy of Kongou's over fondness of Issei. Distrustful of Devils but very subtle. Also against Issei's perverted side. Fastest of the ship girls in Main 4 ship girls. Part of Main 4 ship girls.

Akagi (Civilian Last name) Ship Girl/Human hybrid (or your choice): Later appeared and the reason for Kaga's journey. Later joined Issei and acted as a balance to Kaga's cool personality. Has a big appetite. A source of admiration from Fubuki (anime).

Kongou's sisters. Reasons for Kongou's quest.

Yamato: Reasons for Issei's journey. Later joins Issei.

Kunou: Known Issei when he visit Kyoto in the past. Knows of ship girls and a vigor supporter of Issei and his ship girls. Later joins him as an offical ally. Has an adult form compare to her child form in canon.

Yasaka: Known Issei when he visit Kyoto in the past. Knows of ship girls and a vigor supporter of Issei and his ship girls. Youkai leader and advocated pact between Issei and herself. (Successful)

Kiyome Abe: Supervisor of Youkai in Kuoh, reporting to Yasaka. Often act as the supplier and mission giver on behalf of Yasaka to Issei.

Sona Sitri: Serves as a mediator between Issei and the Devils. Often tried to preserve Issei's humanity out of respect. Has a head ornament that is similar to Kongous and will call Kongou  
"Kongou onne-sama" when she puts it.

Characters: Primary antagonists

Rias Gremory: More of a nuisance than an antagonist as develop later onward. Initially antagonist because she wants Issei to join her peerage due to his mysterious power with his ship girls. When Issei first rejected her she was furious and tried to find ways to force him into the peerage. Despite being told by Sona to give up after her encounter with Kaga, Fubuki, Kongou and Atago in the ORC clubroom, she refused and continues to force Issei to join. Her marriage situation is the same as in DxD canon, but it later got resolved without Issei involved. As a result, despite being saved from her situation by her family, she still resents Issei and will try to find ways to either force him to reconsider her offer or try to at least make him regret his decision. Her kindness to her canon servants (besides Asia and Issei) is still present but she did not show any courtesy to Issei and his ship girls.

Abyssal: Enemy ship girls with an unknown power trying to destroy Issei and the ship girls. The Abyssal had a huge grudge against Issei and Issei must find out why. Origins of Abyssals is a central story plot.

Hostile Devils and Fallen Angels: This means Raynare as well but she would not be the one that kill Issei/ she was stopped before she could do him any harm.

Chaos Brigade: Their intention to cause chaos alarms Issei and his ship girls. Their interest in kanmusu also alarms him.

Other Characters:

Akeno, Koneko, Kiba. Because they participated in trying to force Issei to join them, Issei dislikes them and try to associate with them as less as possible. Issei's ship girls dislikes them as well. However, Issei does assist them when they really required but usually both sides ignore each other.

Other members of the Gremory peerage: If stick to canon members (Gasper, Xenovia etc) they also have a very distant relationship with Issei and his ship girls.

Sona's peerage: Gain the respect of Issei's team due to Sona's action. They maintain a civil relationship between them and Issei assist them in a more likely manner than Gremory Peerage. Semi rivalry between Issei and Saji. The ship girls treats them civilly out of respect but still dislikes devils.

Sizerchs: Heard of his sister's attempt to force Issei and tries to support her due to his siscon personality. As a result, Issei distrust him. Sizerchs also dislikes him as Issei "rudely" rejected Rias but later admits mistake.

Requirements and key points

1\. Issei STAYS human ( a must)

2\. There must be a reason why Issei is having visions of a life with the main four ship girls before. Same with why the Abyssal target Issei

3\. Rias must be an antagonist initially but later becomes a mere annoyance to Issei. Her canon situation regarding her marriage with Raiser must be solved without Issei's involvement. Intensely dislike Issei and vice versa.

4\. Issei must maintain a distant relationship with the Gremory peerage even after Rias was no longer an antagonist. Same with ship girls.

5\. The main 4 ship girls must remain loyal to Issei and once fought alongside him in the "past life".

6\. Issei must try to find the other ship girls and convince them to join him but he is not always successful with the latter. However, he MUST be successful with Akagi and Yamato.

must have a much developed and friendly relationship with the Youkai faction LED by Yasaka as they mutually support each other. Issei must form a pact between Yasaka and himself.

8\. Issei must have a good relationship with Angels as well

9: The chaos brigade must have an interest in Ship Girls and Issei with his team is determined to stop their intentions (your choice)

10\. Issei must find a solution regarding his difficultly in resupplying his ship girls. He must have this difficulty in high levels initially before he could come up with a solution.

11\. Kunou must join Issei later.

12: Kaga occasionally sings Kaga Misaki for Issei.

13: There must be some sort of back story of the white military peaked cap that Issei wears and how it relates to Issei.

Optional:

1\. Issei's relationship with the fallen angels can be up to you

2\. Issei may or may not be successful with his quest with the other Kongou sisters (Hiei, Kirishima, Haurna)

3\. Issei might lose some ship girls (BUT MUST NOT BE THE MAIN 4 SHIP GIRLS AND THE MUST HAVE ADDITIONS TO HIS FLEET: KAGA, KONGOU, ATAGO, FUBUKI, AKAGI, YAMATO)

4\. Issei's pervert side can be a source of humour. (Kaga's punishment of him, scolding from Fubuki)

Good Luck (PM me if you want to write it)


End file.
